Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan's largest airline, AZAL, has published details of its new tariffs on international flights.

The airline reported on July 27 that it has conducted the appropriate analysis of existing tariffs of economy class on all international flights and adopted a decision to reduce them by 20-30 percent starting August 1, 2015.

The prices for AZAL's most popular routes will reduce by the following: Baku-Moscow-Baku from 406 euros to 321 euros (a decline of 85 euros or 21 percent); Baku-Istanbul-Baku from 277 euros to 219 euros (a decline of 58 euros or 21 percent); Baku-Dubai-Baku from 272 euros to 216 euros (a decline of 56 euros or 21 percent).

After the price cut for the Baku-Rome-Baku route, the discount will amount to 112 euros (22 percent), Baku-Lvov-Baku to 141 euros (30 percent), Baku-Beijing-Baku to 116 euros (23 percent), Baku-New York-Baku to 158 euros (21 percent), etc.

These cost-reduction measures have been taken in accordance with the instructions given by President Ilham Aliyev to decrease the prices of airline tickets during the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the results of the country’s socio-economic development in the first half of 2015 and the objectives for the future.

Furthermore, AZAL's low-cost passenger transportation line will operate on four routes: Baku-Antalya-Baku (3 times a week, starting from August 2015), Baku-Istanbul-Baku (one flight every day, starting from September 2015), Baku-Moscow-Baku (2 flights every day, from October 2015), and Baku-Dubai-Baku (one flight every day, from October 2015).

These flights will utilize aircrafts manufactured by the Embraer Company. The final price for tickets on the low-cost airline on the above-mentioned routes will not exceed 99 euros, one way, including one carry-on. The passengers will pay 25 euros, instead of the previously-announced 50 euros, for check-in luggage items weighing 5-23 kilograms.

The passengers can book and purchase tickets for all flights of AZAL online at (www.azal.az). This will allow the passengers to receive detailed information about seat availability and tariffs, as well as purchase tickets directly from AZAL at lower prices.

The airfare sale for low-cost flights on the Baku-Antalya route began on July 24 and tickets for the August 7 departure sold out within two days.

Foreign airlines, including Turkish Airlines, Aeroflot, Sibir, Flydubai, Ukraine International Airlines, Qatar Airways, Air Astana, British Airways, Lufthansa, Belavia and others operate on AZAL’s flight routes.

Heydar Aliyev International Airport ensures equal opportunities to all airlines, including low-cost airlines, according to the company.

AZAL also said that the Hungarian Wizz Air Company has been offered special, preferential terms for three years to renew scheduled flights starting this year. The Hungarian side is yet to response to the offer.

AZAL, being a major air carrier and one of the leaders in the aviation community among CIS countries, flies to 40 destinations in 19 countries and served more than 1.8 million people in 2014.

The Azerbaijani civil aviation industry fully meets the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization, and AZAL is a member of the most prestigious civil aviation association – the International Air Transport Association.

AZAL received "4 Stars" from the leader in air transport research, world-famous British consulting company Skytrax in June 2015.

At the same time, the Azerbaijani national carrier was nominated for Skytrax’s “World Airline Award” in the category "World Airline that achieved most progress."

The company has one of the newest airplane fleets in the world, consisting of 25 airplanes. It is headquartered at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku. Due to its favorable geographical location, Heydar Aliyev International Airport has become number one in the region for flight transfers between East and West, North and South.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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