Azerbaijani Airline Carried Baku-Nakhijevan Flight Through Armenia’s Airspace

An Azerbaijani passenger plane flew over Armenia on Wednesday for the first time in seven years.

Azerbaijan’s national airline AZAL said it has started again using Armenian airspace for its flights from Baku to Nakhichevan exclave bordering Armenia and Iran. It said this will shorten travel time between the two cities and thereby cut the cost of those flights.

Armenia’s Civil Aviation Committee has confirmed that on October 6 a flight on the Baku-Nakhijevan route was carried out over the airspace of the Republic of Armenia.

The use of the airspace of both Armenia and Azerbaijan has never been restricted for civilian aircrafts, except during the 44-day war, the Committee said in a statement.

Flights on the mentioned route were regularly carried out before November 8, 2014, after which the Azerbaijani side chose to stop using the airspace of the Republic of Armenia.

At the same time, the Civil Aviation Committee said flights from Zvartnots Airport to other countries and in the opposite direction have been carried out all this time.

It added that the transit aviation permits are not issued by the Armenian aviation authorities, as according to the procedures, no permit is required for the implementation of transit flights by civil aircrafts.

The right to choose the routes is reserved for the aircraft operators.