AZAL told that these measures have been taken in accordance with the President of the Azerbaijani Republic Ilham Aliyev’s instructions given at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on the results of the country’s socio-economic development in the first half of 2015 and the objectives for the future.
At the meeting, held jointly with the State Civil Aviation Administration, Chairman of the Board on July 16, Jahangir Asgarov instructed all members of the board to deeply analyze the tariffs of each air line, to explore the ways to reduce the cost of tickets, to develop new mechanisms to regulate the terms of applying benefits and tariffs.
On July 21, AZAL held closed Board Meeting. At the meeting, proposals on reduction of the tickets have been put forward. As a result of the reports, it was decided to take concrete measures on this issue.
In particular, AZAL will establish its own low-budget passenger transportation line (low-cost directions) on the following routes:
- Baku-Antalya-Baku - 3 times a week, starting from August 2015;
- Baku-Istanbul-Baku - one flight every day, starting from September 2015;
- Baku-Moscow-Baku - 2 flights every day, from October 2015;
- Baku-Dubai-Baku - one flight every day, from October 2015.
Different dates for starting the new flights are due to procedural issues, such as concluding agreements with the airports for the service, as well as receiving slots (permission) at foreign airports.
Business model of air transportation which is characteristic of low-cost airlines will be used on these directions.
The flights will be implemented by Embraer aircrafts. Final sale price of tickets of the low-budget air transportation line in these directions will not exceed €99 in one-way.
In addition, it was decided to introduce a new tariff policy aimed at reducing current prices on all flights of AZAL. This tariff policy will not apply to new low-cost directions.
So, from August 1, 2015, AZAL will apply 20% discount to the minimum existing tariffs of economy class. The number of tickets sold at this tariff, will make 30% of seats. Meanwhile, all the services of economy class will be preserved for passengers.
News.Az