Baku, February 23, AZERTAC

At the invitation of Azerbaijan Airlines, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Commerical Airplanes, Kevin McAllister arrived in Baku on February 22.

During the negotiations, the parties expressed satisfaction with the strong partnership relations that have developed during the long-term cooperation between Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC and Boeing Corporation.

President of Azerbaijan Airlines, Jahangir Asgarov noted that cooperation with Boeing Corporation is of strategic nature. In 2000, according to the instructions of Azerbaijani National Leader Heydar Aliyev, for the first time Western-type Boeing 757-200 aircraft were added to the fleet of Azerbaijan Airlines. At that time, with the support of instructors and software Boeing Corporation provided much assistance in mastering and servicing this type of aircraft, as well as organizing ground simulators for B757 / 767 aircraft.

In the following years, under the leadership of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who pays great attention and care to civil aviation, the fleet of Azerbaijan Airlines was replenished by such aircraft as the Boeing 767-300ER, and later by the most modern liners - Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Along with the success of passenger air transportation, the country's air cargo transportation is developing dynamically. Since 2010 the fleet of Azerbaijan’s national air cargo carrier Silk Way Airlines was replenished with Boeing 747 F aircraft, and since 2014 the Airline started to operate the newest cargo aircraft Boeing 747-8F, which allowed it to become one of the leading players in the world cargo transportation.

In the near future, passengers of Azerbaijan Airlines will be able to fly on another liner of the new generation. According to the agreement reached between Azerbaijan Airlines and Boeing, Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will start to arrive in Azerbaijan starting from 2018, and till the end of 2020 their total number will reach 10. Till the end of 2022 four more Boeing 787-8 aircraft are also expected to arrive in the country.

In turn, Kevin McAllister highly appreciated the partnership and friendly relations between Boeing and Azerbaijan Airlines and expressed his confidence in further expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation.

During the negotiations, further exploitation and maintenance of all types of Boeing aircrafts operated by Azerbaijani civil aviation, with the participation of the technical center, were also discussed.

Within the visit, the guests got acquainted with Azerbaijani civil aviation facilities, which have been built and reconstructed in recent years - the new airport complex of Heydar Aliyev International Airport (Terminal 1), Baku Cargo Terminal, Silk Way Business Aviation, Silk Way Technics - the complex on maintenance and service of all types of aircrafts, etc.

Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) is one of the leaders of the aviation community of the CIS countries. Total route network of the airline is about 40 destinations in 25 countries. In 2017, Azerbaijan Airlines carried over 2.2 million passengers.

Currently, AZAL operates such aircraft as Boeing 787, Boeing 767, Boeing 757, as well as Airbus 340, Airbus 320, Airbus 319 and Embraer 190.

Aircraft of Azerbaijani civil aviation fully meets the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and Azerbaijan Airlines is a member of the most prestigious civil aviation association - the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

In June 2015 Azerbaijan Airlines received a prestigious "4 Stars" from the world-famous British consulting company Skytrax, which is the leader in assessing airline service quality .

The headquarters of Azerbaijan Airlines is located in Baku, at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, which meets the requirements of international standards. In March 2017, Heydar Aliyev International Airport was awarded the prestigious Skytrax World Airport Award - the airport topped the list of the best airports in Russia and CIS countries in terms of the level of services provided, and again confirmed its compliance with the high level "4 Stars".