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Azerbaijan Airlines

IATA J2 ICAO AHY Callsign AZAL
Founded	7 April 1992
Hubs	Heydar Aliyev International Airport
Frequent flyer program	AZAL Miles
Fleet size	27 (+9 orders)
Destinations	33
Headquarters	Baku, Azerbaijan
Key people	Jakhangir Askerov (CEO)
Website	www.azal.az

Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL, Azeri: Azərbaycan Hava Yolları) is the national airline of Azerbaijan based in Baku. It is the state-owned airline operating scheduled passenger and cargo services from Baku to the CIS, Europe, China and the Middle East, as well as domestic services. Its main base is Heydar Aliyev International Airport, Baku^[1].

History

The history of passenger air transportation of Azerbaijan Republic takes us to 1923 when regular passenger flights started to operate between Baku and Tbilisi on Germany made aircraft "Yunkers". Before Azerbaijan Republic’s independence in 1991 Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) was a part of Aeroflot. Being one of the branches of Aeroflot ,National Carrier "Azerbaijan Hava Yollari" was operating only regional and domestic flights within the Soviet Union as Aeroflot had a monopoly on operation of international flights. Now when Azerbaijan is an independent state Azerbaijan Airlines as a National Carrier is proud of offering high level of services and hospitality to customers on international air markets according to standards and recommendations of ICAO and IATA. With its advantageous geographical position and high standard of handling facilities Heydar Aliyev International Airport is fastly becoming a busy hub in the region for transit and connecting flights between East and West, North and South. On the 09th of October 2000 a remarkable event took place in the history of Azerbaijan Airlines - the first brand new Boeing 757-200 aircraft of the Air Company landed at Heydar Aliyev International Airport. Since then the aircraft fleet of Azerbaijan Airlines have been considerably reinforced by the Boeings, Airbuses and from the 2005 under the contract with Airbus Industry for supply of brand new Airbuses. They are also serving air routes of the company - the first Airbus A319, named after second largest city of Azerbaijan "Ganja" joined aircraft fleet of Azerbaijan Airlines on 2nd of September 2005. On 24th of August 2007 a brand new aircraft - ATR 42-500, arrived at Heydar Aliyev International Airport. This aircraft is now operating on Domestic routes as well as on international destinations. Modernization of aircraft fleet allows Azerbaijan Airlines to expand network of international flights and provide our passengers with high quality of services along with traditionally warm and friendly Azeri hospitality.

Destinations

Fleet

An Azerbaijan Airlines ATR 72-500 at Heydar Aliyev International Airport, Azerbaijan. (2007)

The Azerbaijan Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft (at 20 December 2009):^[2]

At December 2008, the average age of the Azerbaijan Airlines fleet is 9.1 years.^[6]

Incidents and accidents

On 23 December 2005 an Azerbaijan Airlines Antonov AN-140 plunged into the Caspian Sea about 20 miles north of the capital, Baku. All 18 passengers and five crew members died. The plane was on its way to Aktau. The airline has grounded its other remaining An-140 airplanes, and also postponed plans to purchase more of the type aircraft from the Ukraine.

External links

• Azerbaijan Airlines official website

See also

• List of Azerbaijani companies

References

Airlines of Azerbaijan Azal Avia Cargo · Azerbaijan Airlines · Imair Airlines · Silk Way Airlines · SW Business Aviation · Turan Air