AZAL restores direct flights to Astrakhan for 2019
By Leman Mammadova
Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plans to restore direct flights from Baku to Astrakhan in spring 2019, after a four-year break, Denis Afanasyev, the Minister of International and Foreign Economic Relations of the Astrakhan Region, said.
“We had a successful conversation with AZAL, it is planned to recover flights in the spring of 2019”, said Afanasyev commenting on the outcomes of Astrakhan delegation's visit to Azerbaijan on December 18 and 19.
According to the preliminary plan, the flights will be operated twice a week, and the flight time will be from 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, depending on the type of aircraft. Technical issues and marketing policy are currently under discussion.
Afanasyev pointed to the fact that, in particular, there is good prospects for the development of mutual tourism relations between the Astrakhan region and Azerbaijan. Noting that Turkish Airlines left Astrakhan airport Afanasyev said that in this sense Baku airport can play coordinative port role to reach East and West.
“Price policy should be competitive as well as suitable for passengers from the Astrakhan and other Russian regions. We also mean passengers from the western regions of Kazakhstan,” he added.
The decision has been made within the cooperation agreement recently signed by Azerbaijani Tourism Agency and the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation.
At present, enterprises of 71 regions of the Russian Federation cooperate directly with Azerbaijan. Fifteen regions of Russia have relevant agreements with Azerbaijan on trade and economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.
Astrakhan is the center of the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation. This city, named after Haji Tarkhan in the XIII-XIV centuries, became an important trading center on the seabed of the Volga River, located on the Silk Road in the Caspian Sea. Such a favorable geographical position allowed the old city to become the largest transportation hub of the entire Lower Volga region. Railway and air traffic, sea and river port of the Volga-Caspian basin made the city a frequently visited place not only in the list of connoisseurs of rich cultural heritage. The population of Astrakhan is multiethnic though it is mostly Russian. At present, Tatars, the main population of the region in the past, make up only 7 percent of the population. The main industry in the city is fuel-energy sector.
The Azerbaijan-Russia Bridge of Friendship was inaugurated in Astrakhan, Russia in 2012.
The opening of the business center of Azerbaijan, built on the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, took place in the Russian city of Astrakhan this year to introduce Made in Azerbaijan brand abroad. The interested Russian companies also have opportunity to conclude long-term contracts with specific suppliers from Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani investors became the first foreign businessmen in Astrakhan’s Lotos special economic zone in 2017. Azerbaijan’s ATEF Group of Companies launched the construction of a plant for the production of electrical equipment in the special economic zone. The construction of an electrical equipment plant with $ 18 mln in investment is currently underway.
According to the results of 2017, the volume of foreign trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Astrakhan province exceeds $ 16 million. It is 4.3 times more than in 2016.
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