Foreign airlines conclude codeshare agreement covering flights to Baku
By Aygul Salmanova
The number of air companies launching flights to Azerbaijan, a country located in Southern Caucasus, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, has been gradually increasing.
Japan Airlines announced that it expanded its existing codeshare agreements, with Qatar Airways, the foreign media reported.
The codeshare will also cover flights from Doha to Amman, Jordan, and Baku as well as six routes to Africa, including Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and Dar es Salaam, Ethiopia.
The expanded codeshare will take effect on April 1, 2018.
A codeshare agreement, also known as codeshare, is an aviation business arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight. Sharing, in this sense, means that each airline publishes and markets the flight under its own airline designator and flight number as part of its published timetable or schedule.
Many tourists have visited Azerbaijan, especially its capital Baku, during past years and their number increases annually. This is natural, as Baku is among the most visited cities of the CIS countries. Over the past year, Azerbaijan received over 2 million tourists. In general, for the past 10 years, the number of tourists visiting the country increased by five times.
People in Azerbaijan are well known for their hospitality, while the country’s nature with its climate, beauty and uniqueness mesmerizes even the most claimant tourists. The country with rich ancient history has thousands of places to visit, ranging from the capital to the unique villages lost in the clouds.
Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Japan were established in 1992. A number of important projects are being implemented in Azerbaijan through the financial support of Japan, while very important infrastructure projects had already been commissioned in the country through Japanese government`s loans.
Japan was one of the first countries to support Azerbaijan's forward-looking oil strategy. Today two major Japanese companies Itochu and Impex are involved in the Contract of the Century [signed on September 20, 1994 in Baku, a large-scale international contract on the joint development of three oil fields - Azeri, Chirag, Gunashli in the Azerbaijani Sector of the Caspian Sea].
Moreover, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has financed four loan projects in the country in the amount of $900 million in the sectors of energy, water supply and sewerage, since the beginning of its cooperation with Azerbaijan.
JICA has allocated $64 million for grant projects in the sectors of agriculture, health, energy, irrigation and road administration.
Leaders of Japanese business, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Marubeni, and Sojits are involved in energy and infrastructure projects in the country.
In late October, Baku hosted an exhibition of Japanese food products for the first time, where about 500 high-quality Japanese products, including food products, drinks, cosmetics and many other products were presented.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Japan amounted to $49.59 million in January-June of 2017, according to the Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee.
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