ATR and AZAL announce six new airplanes

The deal, with a total value of about USD 100 million, has been signed in Paris between Jahangir Askerov, General Director of AZAL and Filippo Bagnato, ATR CEO. The President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin have attended this important event.

The six new ATR aircraft will be delivered between 2007 and 2008 and will be equipped with the newest technological innovations in passenger comfort, communications and navigation aid tools.

This deal, which is the first to be signed between AZAL and ATR, will allow the airline to renew its current fleet of Antonov and Tupolev aircraft and to open new regional routes.

Since the beginning of 2006, ATR has received orders for 63 new aircraft, some of them not yet announced. 2006 has confirmed the recovery of the turboprop market and the success of ATR aircraft. Since the beginning of the programme, ATR has sold 837 aircraft (401 ATR-42s and 436 ATR-72s).

Before Azerbaijan independence in 1991, AZAL was a part of Aeroflot, and was operating regional and domestic flights within the Soviet Union, with Aeroflot having exclusive rights to operate on international routes. Now, AZAL, as national carrier, is proud to offer a high level of services and hospitality to their customers on domestic, regional and international routes meeting the standards and recommendations of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and IATA (International Air Transport Association). With its advantageous geographic position and high standard of handling facilities, Heydar Aliyev International Airport of Baku is rapidly becoming a busy hub in the region for transit and connecting flights between East and West, North and South. Since 2000, AZAL fleet has been considerably reinforced by Boeing and since 2005 by Airbus aircraft. In particular, 4 A-319s have been recently introduced in the AZAL Fleet". WAPA, Avionews