Azerbaijan, Pakistan to launch direct flights

A meeting was held between Pakistan's Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mr. Bilal Hayee, and Mr. Jahangir Askerov, President of "Azerbaijan Airlines" ("AZAL"), Report says, citing AZAL.

At the meeting, the parties discussed bilateral cooperation issues between Azerbaijan and Pakistan in the field of civil aviation and long-term plans to increase passenger and cargo traffic.

The ambassador informed Mr. Askerov that more than 40,000 Pakistani citizens visited Azerbaijan in 2019. This number was likely to continue to grow once the ongoing pandemic subsided, and international travel restrictions were lifted.

The ambassador further noted that there was also great interest among Azerbaijan people to travel to Pakistan for tourism and trade.

During the talks, Jahangir Askerov noted that direct flights' commencement would further develop tourism and business relations between the two brotherly countries.

Recalling the codeshare agreement signed in January 2020 between the national air carriers of Azerbaijan and Pakistan, Jahangir Askerov proposed to operate regular passenger services without any restrictions to any airports of both countries once the internationalflights are resumed.

Commencement of direct flights has been the long-standing demand of the people of Pakistan and Azerbaijan. It will reduce the travel time to less than three hours. The sides expressed hope that direct flights' commencement would contribute to further deepening the political, economic, and cultural ties between the two brotherly countries.