Foreign airlines can open new budget flights to Azerbaijan’s regions

Leadership of international airports jointly with the Aviation Security Department of CJSC Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) are holding negotiations with representatives of the aviation authorities of Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and some other countries for closer cooperation within passenger air transportation since January 2016.

Flights from the Azerbaijani regions to popular destinations of other countries are on the agenda. In particular, operating flights from Istanbul to Gabala and Lankaran airports by Turkish Pegasus and Atlasjet airlines is being discussed.

Air Arabia low-cost airline can open direct flights from the third largest city in the United Arab Emirates – Sharjah to Baku, Gabala and other regions of Azerbaijan.

Recently, the delegation of Israel’s national airline – El Al Israel Airlines has visited Azerbaijan and conducted audit in the field of aviation security at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku. Representatives of El Al announced plans on opening direct flights from Tel Aviv to Baku by Israeli El Al and Arkia airlines in 2016.

Lately, Russian UTair airlines and Ural Airlines have conducted a number of audits at Baku, Lankaran and Ganja airports, based on which the representatives of the airlines appreciated the level of organization of aviation security and service on passenger flights.

It should be noted that Turkish Airlines (Istanbul – Nakhchivan, Istanbul – Ganja), Russian UTair airlines (Moscow – Nakhchivan) and Ural Airlines (Moscow – Ganja, Moscow – Lankaran Moscow -Gabala) already operate flights to the Azerbaijani regions. Several Russian airlines stated their intentions to operate flights from St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk to our regional airports.

“We are interested in further cooperation with other countries’ airlines in order to expand the geography of flights and attract tourists to Azerbaijan. We plan to negotiate individually with each airline which plans to open new routes to Azerbaijan. We for our part are ready to consider providing them with additional discounts on service at regional airports in the initial phase,” AZALvice-president Arif Mammadov said.

Currently, six airports (Baku, Nakhchivan, Ganja, Gabala, Lankaran and Zagatala) operate in Azerbaijan, which have international status and meet all modern requirements in civil aviation.