Baku, June 17, AZERTAC

Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) has received a prestigious "4 Star" rating out of 5 from the leader in air transport research, world-famous British consulting company Skytrax.

AZAL was awarded this status based on the results of independent international audit of Skytrax, which assessed the airline's quality and level of services.

Airlines rating by Skytrax is measured on a scale ranging from 1 star to 5 stars, and is recognized by the aviation community as an unbiased and indisputable criterion in service quality rating.

According to the current rating of "Skytrax", a total of 35 airlines are registered in the rating of "4 Stars". By receiving the "4 Star" rating, AZAL joins other well-known global carriers like Emirates, Air France, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, KLM, British Airways, Japan Airlines and others.

Only one "4 Star" carrier has been registered among the countries of Eastern Europe and the CIS until recently.

Before AZAL was awarded with "4 Stars" rating, independent international auditors established the rating of the company, based on more than 800 criteria covering service quality and staff work standards.

Such components, important from the point of passengers, as an airline's website and its contents, convenience of online booking and other services were asserted.

Detailed assessment was also carried out on such issues as the cabin's condition, its design and cleanness, board entertainment, crew uniforms, crew's attitude to the passengers, operating efficiency. Aside from that such issues as duty free service, aircraft log book contents, quality of on-board catering and seat comfort were asserted as well.

AZAL rose to the occasion in all these components.

At the same time, the Azerbaijani national carrier was nominated for the award established by Skytrax agency - the “World Airline Awards” in the global category "World Airline that achieved most progress", taking its place of honor among such global carriers as Air France and Delta Air Lines.