Analysts point to Turkey's role in resuming flights from Azerbaijan to Russia

Azerbaijani air carriers have resumed flights to Russia, interrupted in March, as this route is in great demand and commercially profitable, the Baku analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe. In their opinion, Azerbaijan has managed to solve the issue of insuring aircrafts and passengers flying to Russia, by bypassing the sanctions via Turkey.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in March, Azerbaijani airlines announced the cancellation of flights to Russia due to the absence of the possibility of full insurance of passengers due to the sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation. Since June 15, the companies have gradually resumed flights from Baku to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Astrakhan, Minvody, Kazan and Ufa.

In the opinion of Natig Djafarli, the head of the "Republic" Research Centre, who is also a member of the political committee of the "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Party, the resumption of flights performed by Azerbaijani airlines to Russia is primarily due to the high demand for this direction. "Russia, along with Turkey, is among most popular destinations for Azerbaijani air carriers," Mr Djafarli has explained.

As for the problems with aircraft and passenger insurance, according to Djafarli, neither the Azeri government nor the leadership of the AZAL made public comments on how this problem was resolved. "According to my information from unofficial sources, the issue was resolved with the help of Turkey," he has added.

Togrul Djuvarly, an economic observer for the "Turan" News Agency, believes that the resumption of flights to Russia was an objective necessity. "The fact is that due to sanctions and the threat of arrest of leased aircraft, Russian air carriers on many international flights, including to Azerbaijan, use the Russian-made "Sukhoi SuperJet-100" aircrafts. However, they are of small capacity – some 80-105 passengers – and, therefore, they fail to satisfy the demand," the expert has explained.

Mr Djuvarly also believes that the insurance issues were resolved with the help of Turkey.

"In general, in sensitive international issues Baku often turns to Ankara as its natural ally," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 25, 2022 at 06:24 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.