National airline of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan airlines or AZAL is the national air carrier of Azerbaijan. Last year early autumn I had a chance to fly with Azal from Kyiv to Baku and back.

Airbus A320 of Azerbaijan Airlines

https://www.airlines-inform.ru/license/

Airbus A320 of Azerbaijan Airlines

https://www.airlines-inform.ru/license/

The stewardesses appeared to be friendly and the aircraft were pretty new. The average age of the planes is 6.5 years. The airline have completely rejected the former Soviet machines. The first long-haul aircraft B767 was supplied in 2011. During the year the orders for supply of two more aircraft of the kind were made. Nowadays the aircraft population consists of 22 planes.

Being a connoisseur of details in civil aviation I considered their uniform to be rather old-fashioned. Though, maybe there’s a special appeal in that. An average passenger will be pleased by the lavish and tasty menu, even in the economy class.

Passenger Cabin of Airbus A320 of Azerbaijan Airlines

https://www.airlines-inform.ru/license/

Passenger Cabin of Airbus A320 of Azerbaijan Airlines

https://www.airlines-inform.ru/license/

Meal on an AZAL flight Kyiv-Baku

https://www.airlines-inform.ru/license/

AZAL has the vast traffic network including the main European cities and the capitals of the CIS countries. The most popular among the domestic directions is Nakhichevan, because this autonomy is located apart from the main territory of the country. The round-trip ticket costs 100 Euro.

During my flight to Baku I paid attention to the curious detail. One of the destinations in the flight log was Aberdeen - the small Scottish town. It surprised me that the company makes 3(!) flights a week to Aberdeen. It appeared to be that the headquarters of the main oil companies are situated in this town and many Azerbaijanis work there.

https://www.airlines-inform.ru/license/

But the main item is the flight price. Here there’s little pleasant to be mentioned. The regular price for the flight Kiev-Baku-Kiev is 450$ in general. The round-ticket to Paris is 700$, to London – 900$.

Nowadays Azal is the monopoly air-carrier. Hope next year the price policy will be changed in the run-up to the Eurovision contest and the following increase of the tourist visiting of the country by Europeans.

Many leading European airlines fly to Baku. However I’ve never come across Baku while monitoring their stocks. On the one hand Baku is really far from the European hub cities, and on the other hand it demands rather high airport taxes.

There are also several international airports in Azerbaijan such as Gyandzha, Lankaran and Nakhichevan.
One more international airport was opened in Azerbaijan in October 2011. It’s located in the town of Gabala and is mainly aimed for tourism.

Airports of Azerbaijan