Armenian Airlines (AAL) plans to replenish its fleet with two Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

AAL, founded in February 2021, has no connection with the country’s former national air carrier Armenian Airlines (liquidated in 2020), although it uses the latter's name and logo, received an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) in December 2022, and launched flights in March 2023.

The company suspended flight operations in April 2025 after the two Airbus A321 aircraft (Armenia registrations EK-AAB and EK-AAD) in its fleet were transferred to Turkey, replenishing the fleet of local Southwind Airlines.

Armenian Airlines announced in March 2025 that it would temporarily suspend flights from April 7 due to the renewal of its fleet and the acquisition of new aircraft.

Since the air carrier no longer had a single aircraft fit for flight, Armenia’s Civil Aviation Committee suspended its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) for six months in May.

It later became known that AAL would henceforth operate Boeing 737-800s instead of Airbus A321s. Hetq learned about this from planespotters.net, as well as from its source at the airline.

The procedure for issuing an AOC adopted by the government stipulates that in order to obtain a certificate or maintain it valid, the carrier must be the owner or lessee (sublessee) of at least one airworthy aircraft or have signed a memorandum of intent to acquire, lease or sublease at least one airworthy aircraft.

Considering that AAL again met this condition, the airline applied to the CAC with a request to restore the AOC operation (without this document, it is impossible to conduct commercial flights). The committee satisfied the operator’s application.

We wrote about the first Boeing 737-800 leased by AAL in August last year, referring to planespotters.net. According to the source, the aircraft, manufactured in 2012, was operated in India from 2012 to 2021, where it was registered. After its commissioning, the aircraft was parked in France for a long time, from 2021 to 2024. In 2022, the Chinese owner of the aircraft, ICBC Leasing, registered the aircraft in the Cayman Islands. In 2024, the American GA Telesis became its owner, which in the same year moved the aircraft from France to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, and then to another Lithuanian city, Kaunas. On May 28, 2025, the aircraft was moved to Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, where, according to planespotters.net, it has been parked to this day.

The aircraft currently has the Cayman registration VP-CTK, but according to planespotters.net, it will receive the EK-AAE registration in Armenia.

If we believe this source, the second Boeing 737-800 acquired by the Armenian Airlines is a twin of the previous one. This one was also manufactured in 2012, operated in India from 2012 to 2021, and then from 2021 to 2024, it was parked in France. In 2022, the owner of the aircraft, ICBC Leasing, registered the aircraft in the Cayman Islands. In 2024, the American GA Telesis became its owner, which transported the aircraft to Vilnius, Lithuania, and then to Kaunas. On March 12, 2025, the aircraft was moved to Istanbul, where it is parked to this day. It currently has the Cayman registration VP-CTJ.

Photo: Aircraft with registrations VP-CTK (top) and VP-CTJ (bottom) at Istanbul Airport (planespotters.net)