Low-cost carriers to operate flights to Azerbaijan

/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

Air Arabia, UAE’s low-cost carrier, can launch direct flights from country’s third largest city Sharjah to Baku, Gabala and other regions of Azerbaijan.

AZAL Aviation Security Department together with the management of the international airports eyes closer cooperation with a number of countries within passenger air transportation. The department is in talks with representatives of Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Israel and some other countries since early 2016.

The key purpose of the talks is to perform flights from Azerbaijan’s regions to the popular destinations in other countries. Particularly these are flights from Istanbul to Gabala and Ganja operated by Turkish Pegasus and Atlasjet.

Earlier, AZAL Vice-President Arif Mammadov said Azerbaijan is interested in further cooperation with the foreign airlines in a bid to expand flight geography and to attract more tourists to the country.

Recently, representatives of El Al Israel Airlines have visited Azerbaijan for carrying out an audit in the field of aviation safety at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport. The Israeli airlines announced plans to launch direct flights from Tel Aviv to Baku operated together with another Israeli carrier, Arkia.

Furthermore, the Russian UTair and Ural Airlines held audits at the airports of Baku, Lankaran and Ganja. Following the results of the audits, they highly appreciated the level of the aviation safety organization and commercial flights service.

Today, Turkish Airlines operates Istanbul – Nakhchivan, Istanbul – Ganja flights, Utair operates Moscow – Nakhchivan flight, while Ural Airlines operates Moscow – Ganja, Moscow – Lankaran, Moscow – Gabala flights. Moreover, several other Russian airlines reported about intentions to carry out flights from St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk to Azerbaijan’s airports.

Currently, Azerbaijan's six airports - in Baku, Nakhchivan, Ganja, Gabala, Lankaran and Zagatala have the international status and meet all modern requirements in the field of civil aviation work.