In the country's main air harbor, Heydar Aliyev International Airport, passenger turnover reached a record level in 2023 - more than 5.85 million passengers were served. This figure is 33% higher than the results of 2022, when 4.4 million passengers were transported. The peak of passenger traffic was recorded on August 13 – 24,274 people.
In 2023, Baku airport served 5.13 million passengers on international flights. 42.5% of them were the share of AZAL, and the remaining 57.5% were the share of foreign air carriers. During the reporting period, the national air carrier transported 2.18 million passengers to international destinations. The number of passengers served in the direction of Nakhchivan amounted to 717 thousand people, which means an increase compared to 684 thousand passengers in 2022. The peak of passenger traffic on this route was recorded in July; more than 92 thousand passengers were served during this month.
Of the 41 airlines, 18 of which are low-cost airlines flying the most passengers to Baku airport, they carried Turkish Airlines, AnadoluJet, Utair, Aeroflot, Fly Dubai, Wizz Air Abu-Dhabi, Pegasus, Azimut, Air Arabia, Iraero. The most popular foreign destinations were Istanbul, Moscow, Tbilisi, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In total, in 2023, more than 49.3 thousand flights were carried out from Heydar Aliyev International Airport to about 80 different destinations.
“Also, the number of transit passengers at Baku airport increased by 142% compared to 2022 - more than 162 thousand passengers served. Attracting new foreign airlines, expanding the route network and ongoing infrastructure work at the airport have significantly improved the accessibility of transportation for all passengers,” said Baku Airport director Teymur Hasanov.
In order to improve the passenger experience, a number of innovations were introduced at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in 2023, including an innovative service that ensures fast entry and exit of vehicles and various methods of paying for parking, as well as the introduction of a Travel Document Authorization System (TDAS), which simplifies and speeds up the pre-flight clearance process.
It should be noted that in the reporting year, positive dynamics of passenger transportation was also observed at the regional airports of the country; 744 thousand passengers were served at Nakhchivan International Airport, about 220 thousand in Ganja, and more than 16 thousand in Lankaran.