Conflicting reasons for the cancellation of direct flights between Yerevan and Van have appeared in the Turkish press.

Hurriyet Daily News says that according to Deputy Governor of Van Mehmet Yüzer, Borajet, the company handling the flights, pulled out of the agreement after a low number of passengers on the initial runs.

This runs counter to the claim of Narekavank, a tour agency in Armenia, that the decision to cancel the flights was made on March 28 by Turkey’s General Department of Civil Aviation.

 Hurriyet says that Turkey’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation declined to comment and BoraJet officials reaffirmed that the reason for the cancellation were passenger numbers far below the capacity of the flights.

Yüzer also said the Directorate did not inform them of any such issue and that the decision was made only by BoraJet.

“We were not informed by Turkey’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation to cancel the flights. The necessary permissions were already granted by Iran and Armenia,” Yüzer told the Hürriyet Daily News on March 29 in a phone interview.

The flights were planned to operate on April 3.