Azerbaijan Airlines Gets Embraer 190

Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) has taken the delivery of an Embraer 190, the first of four aircraft the carrier has ordered.

 

The carrier plans to deploy the new aircraft on its international network from Baku's Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD).

 

The remaining three aircraft are scheduled for delivery by the end of this year.

 

The four E190s are part of an order to purchase six E-Jets, with two 76-seat E170s from ECC Leasing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Embraer, joining the fleet later this year.

 

Configured with 106 Elite seats in a single class layout, AZAL's first E190 is scheduled to start flying from Baku to Nakhchievan and Tbilisi, Georgia.

 

The carrier plans to deploy the E190 on longer international routes in the near future.

 

Embraer Commercial Aviation president and CEO Paulo Cesar Silva says: "Together with the E170, the sizes of the new aircraft are ideal for adding incremental capacity as markets grow as well as complementing AZAL's larger aircraft fleet."

 

AZAL president and chairman of board Jahangir Askerov says that the arrival of the first E190 in AZAL's fleet was an important milestone in the carrier's strategic renewal plan to replace turboprops and narrow-bodies in some of its markets.

 

"The E190's excellent operating economics and range open up new market opportunities for us, specifically to key business destinations," Askerov adds.

 

"The comfortable cabin is particularly important for the longer routes we intend to fly with the E190 to Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia."

 

With the new aircraft, AZAL joins a growing list of new E-Jets fleet operators in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Air Astana, Air Lituanica, Air Moldova, Belavia, Bulgaria Air, Estonian Air, Montenegro Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Ukraine International Airlines.

 

Headquartered in Baku, AZAL is part of the Azerbaijan Hava Yollari closed joint stock company (CJSC), the largest airline of the Caucasus region.

 

Azerbaijan Hava Yollari operates passenger flights to Europe, the CIS, the Middle East and Asia and plans to expand its network to destinations in North America and South-East Asia in 2013 using wide-bodied aircraft.