According to the latest information, the plane making a Chisinau-Yerevan-Chisinau flight was not allowed to land in Chisinau and was forbidden to deboard passengers in Bucharest.

The Moldovan Civil Aviation Authority offered the following clarifications:

“Regarding the cancellation of the Chisinau-Yerevan-Chisinau flight. Under Government Decision no. 870, air operators are required to notify the Civil Aviation Authority (AAC) of any change to the flight schedule and additional flights, in order to obtain the necessary prior approval. In the case of the RMO-EVN-RMO flight, these requirements were not met. The operator did not notify AAC about the schedule changes 3 days in advance, as required by law. As a result, this flight did not receive the necessary approval. The Civil Aviation Authority reiterates the need for air operators to comply with national regulations”.

Sources within the Otopeni Airport told IPN that the plane in question did land in Bucharest, but was not allowed to deboard the passengers. After ground handling, the plane was returned to the airport, from where it took off to Yerevan. During the movements towards take-off, the ship was stopped. According to the sources, an anti-crisis cell was activated and an aviation security incident was declared.

According to reports on social media, the Romanian Border Police allegedly took several passengers for questioning.

Vladimir Cebotari, a shareholder of FlyOne Moldova, told realitatea.md he had no information as to why the flight was diverted. A Mongolian airline had been contracted by FlyOne Armenia for the charter flight at the request of a travel company.

Chisinau International Airport’s online schedule shows two flights from Yerevan. The first one arrived at around 2:00 AM as scheduled, and the second one was supposed to land at 4:40 PM, but the updated time at press time was 10:40 PM.