Armenian tourists trapped in Egypt: Sharm el-Sheikh - Yerevan flight cancelled
news.am
August 11, 2012 | 20:03
Many Armenians, who are currently enjoying their vacation in Sharm
el-Sheikh may not be able to return Yerevan next week as the Spot Air
charter company cancelled the flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to Yerevan
due to the debts by tour operator Happy Voyage company, Spot Air
informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.
Earlier Armenian News-NEWS.am informed about the scandal in Yerevan
airport, as Happy Voyage company, which has sold the Sharm el-Sheikh
tickets to over 140 passengers from Yerevan, could not secure the
flight for its passengers. The Happy Voyage has been warned about the
possibility of flight cancellation by Sport Air charter company
several times prior to the incident, Spot Air representative told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.
In exclusive interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am the official
representative of Spot Air charter company clarified the situation
regarding cancellation of the Sharm el-Sheikh - Yerevan flight
scheduled on August 15, and previous scandal with Yerevan-Sharm El
Sheikh flight on August 7, reserved by the Happy Voyage tour operator.
`According to the aircraft charter agreement signed by our charter
company Spot Air and tour operator Happy Voyage, the complete payment
has to be done at least 5 working days before each flight. Tour
Operator "Happy Voyage" was reminded about this important condition
several times in advance and even during the week before the flight
operation was warned about cancellation of the flight in case if they
do not pay full amount for the flight. However, despite all these
warnings, emails and calls, which they did not even care to respond
to, the payment was not done in time. As a result, on Friday, August
3, we had to inform Tour Operator and Civil Aviation of Erevan about
cancellation of the flight Erevan-Sharm El Sheikh due to non-execution
of contractual obligations (lack of payment) by official email. Happy
Voyage had ignored our emails and calls and insisted on the flight
ignoring the fact that complete payment has not been done. In spite of
mentioned above, the payment was done only some hours before the
flight, which was already cancelled.
We would like to emphasize that we would be in high risk to perform
the flight without receiving the complete payment on our account with
reference to our previous business working experience with Happy
Voyage last year, where we still have some pending amounts to be paid
by the tour operator. Nevertheless, we decided to complete our part of
contract obligations and to protect the rights of passengers, so we
performed the flight according to our first availability on August 8,
2012 (Yerevan- Sharm el Sheikh, time of departure 17:30 UTC timing).
At the moment, Armenian passengers are in Sharm El Sheikh enjoying
their vacation.
During the last two days we contacted Happy Voyage to inform in
advance that they need to make the payment for the next flight, August
15, 2012. However, no clear explanations and actions have been done.
That is why, today in the morning we informed them about cancellation
of the next flight due to non-payment again. Such cancellation has
been done 5 working days before the flight to allow tour operator to
find another solution how to take passengers back. Our charter company
is highly devoted to the contract terms and obligations, but when the
tour operator does not respect the contract and does not perform their
obligations, we are obliged to act as it is described in the above
situation," the Sport Air charter company official representative told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.
news.am
August 11, 2012 | 20:03
Many Armenians, who are currently enjoying their vacation in Sharm
el-Sheikh may not be able to return Yerevan next week as the Spot Air
charter company cancelled the flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to Yerevan
due to the debts by tour operator Happy Voyage company, Spot Air
informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.
Earlier Armenian News-NEWS.am informed about the scandal in Yerevan
airport, as Happy Voyage company, which has sold the Sharm el-Sheikh
tickets to over 140 passengers from Yerevan, could not secure the
flight for its passengers. The Happy Voyage has been warned about the
possibility of flight cancellation by Sport Air charter company
several times prior to the incident, Spot Air representative told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.
In exclusive interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am the official
representative of Spot Air charter company clarified the situation
regarding cancellation of the Sharm el-Sheikh - Yerevan flight
scheduled on August 15, and previous scandal with Yerevan-Sharm El
Sheikh flight on August 7, reserved by the Happy Voyage tour operator.
`According to the aircraft charter agreement signed by our charter
company Spot Air and tour operator Happy Voyage, the complete payment
has to be done at least 5 working days before each flight. Tour
Operator "Happy Voyage" was reminded about this important condition
several times in advance and even during the week before the flight
operation was warned about cancellation of the flight in case if they
do not pay full amount for the flight. However, despite all these
warnings, emails and calls, which they did not even care to respond
to, the payment was not done in time. As a result, on Friday, August
3, we had to inform Tour Operator and Civil Aviation of Erevan about
cancellation of the flight Erevan-Sharm El Sheikh due to non-execution
of contractual obligations (lack of payment) by official email. Happy
Voyage had ignored our emails and calls and insisted on the flight
ignoring the fact that complete payment has not been done. In spite of
mentioned above, the payment was done only some hours before the
flight, which was already cancelled.
We would like to emphasize that we would be in high risk to perform
the flight without receiving the complete payment on our account with
reference to our previous business working experience with Happy
Voyage last year, where we still have some pending amounts to be paid
by the tour operator. Nevertheless, we decided to complete our part of
contract obligations and to protect the rights of passengers, so we
performed the flight according to our first availability on August 8,
2012 (Yerevan- Sharm el Sheikh, time of departure 17:30 UTC timing).
At the moment, Armenian passengers are in Sharm El Sheikh enjoying
their vacation.
During the last two days we contacted Happy Voyage to inform in
advance that they need to make the payment for the next flight, August
15, 2012. However, no clear explanations and actions have been done.
That is why, today in the morning we informed them about cancellation
of the next flight due to non-payment again. Such cancellation has
been done 5 working days before the flight to allow tour operator to
find another solution how to take passengers back. Our charter company
is highly devoted to the contract terms and obligations, but when the
tour operator does not respect the contract and does not perform their
obligations, we are obliged to act as it is described in the above
situation," the Sport Air charter company official representative told
Armenian News-NEWS.am.