Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

An aircraft of the Azerbaijan Airlines had to halt its flight to Moscow and return back to Baku following technical difficulties.

On its way to Moscow, Boeing-757, AZAL flight AHY-852 had to return home to Baku Heydar Aliyev Airport at 11:10 am on May 21 after the plane experienced technical difficulties.

According to preliminary reports, AZAL found that pressure dropped in one of the plane's hydraulic systems, thus forcing the pilot to make a U-turn.

"The aircraft landed safely, with no casualties," the company said.

"Although it would have been possible for the flight to resume even with such a malfunction, the captain judged preferable to return to Baku, thus putting passengers and crew' security and safety above all considerations. The problem occurred immediately after the take-off,” the source added.

The airliner used a reserve plane to carry out its flight to Moscow on the same day.

A special commission of AZAL is investigating the incident.

AZAL, Azerbaijan's biggest airline and national flag carrier, is continuously improving flight safety, complying with the world’s most stringent requirements.

As a regional and CIS leader in terms of its number of new aircrafts, AZAL offers its passenger flights to European countries, the CIS, the Middle East, Asia and the United States.

The world’s biggest and most authoritative civil aviation organizations, ICAO highly estimated the level of flight safety of Azerbaijan Airlines in 2010.

In 2008, AZAL successfully completed an IATA operational safety audit, thus the company has become a full-fledged member of the community of the world’s safest airlines.

Azerbaijan Airlines managers and personnel work hard on a daily basis to further improve the airline’s safety performance, flight frequency, culture and quality of passenger services and the overall image of the airline in the eyes of the world and the aviation community.

The company has different modern aircraft, that meet all safety requirements. Currently, AZAL's fleet includes Boeing B-787-8, Boeing 757-200, Boeing 767-300, Airbus 319, Airbus A320, Airbus A340-500, Embraer ERJ 170-100LR and Embraer ERJ 190-100.

The company cooperates with about 60 airlines to provide its passengers with an opportunity to travel leisurely around the world.

AZAL also has very modern aviation training center, AZAL Training, which was founded in 2010. The training center, equipped with advanced teaching aids and sophisticated aviation training simulators ensure comprehensive initial training, recurrent training and advanced training for the AZAL’s personnel.

AZAL’s Multi-Crew Cooperation Course program allows graduates of flying schools to successfully master modern aircraft of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 757 families.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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