Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend I.Khalilova / State Concern AZAL made an appeal to the Tariff Council of Azerbaijan with a proposal to change the prices for the internal flights Baku-Ganja, Baku-Zakatala, Baku-Lenkaran, Baku-Nakchivan, Ganja-Nakchivan, the Minister of Economic Development of Azerbaijan, Chairman of Tariff Council, Heydar Babayev, said on 2 November.
By the end of the next month, the Tariff Council will hold first discussions regarding this issue. "The decision of the Tariff Council will base both on the proposals of AZAL and results of searches because the internal prices are linked with the Country's population," the Minister said.
According to the Minister, the initial searches and assessment have already been held and presented to the members of the Council. Whilst making a decision, the Council will proceed from the existence of the alternative routes in concrete directions because in addition to air flights, it is possible to use railway and motor transport, Babayev said.
Direct relations with Nakchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan are established only through air flights. However, the new bus route opened to Nakchivan via Iran will not be taken into consideration because this road is very long.
According to Babayev, the tariff council in compliance with the international agreements does not regulate cost formation of international flights of the AZAL state concern and other airlines. The cost of aero-plane tickets for all international flights from Azerbaijan increased more than by 10% from 1 November. Increase the cost of tickets is explained joining of Azerbaijan the European zone of the International Airline Transport Organization (IATA).
In compliance with the requirements of the organization the cost of tickets should be described with Euro. Therefore, the airlines operating in Azerbaijan and realizing international flights should have to change the cost of tickets from US dollar to Euro. Conversion of US dollar tariffs to Euro will be implemented with the formula 1:1.
The Azerbaijani Minister said about the proposals by the Azerbaijani Emergency Situations Ministry and State Customs Committee concerning introduction of new tariffs on transport of danger cargo and check of the quality and security of imported commodities to Azerbaijan. These proposals may be considered in the Tariff Council in the near future.
