Azerbaijan Airlines suspends indefinitely flights between Baku, Russia’s Kazan

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) on Wednesday announced that it has suspended all of its flights between the Azerbaijani capital Baku and the Russian city of Kazan for an indefinite period.

“Due to the recent regular closure of airspace over the Russian city of Kazan AZAL is indefinitely suspending all flights en route Baku-Kazan-Baku to ensure flight safety,” said a statement by the company on Telegram.

The statement said that passengers who have bought tickets to fly between the two destinations will be able to receive a full refund or re-book their tickets.

“AZAL continues to monitor the current situation closely and will inform passengers about any changes,” it added.

AZAL previously declared on Dec. 27 that it suspended flights from Baku to eight different destinations in Russia, including the cities of Sochi, Volgograd, and Nizhny Novgorod.

The statement said the decision was made based on the preliminary results of the investigation into the AZAL plane crash in Kazakhstan that took place just a couple of days prior.

An AZAL plane, en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny in Russia's Chechen Republic, crashed 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the Kazakh city of Aktau on the Caspian Sea coast on Dec. 25, killing 38 out of 67 people on board.

On the same day, AZAL suspended flights from Baku to Grozny, as well as flights from Baku to the city of Makhachkala in Russia's neighboring Dagestan region.