12:32 - 12.06.2018

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June 12, Fineko/abc.az. During the first five months of 2018 the Heydar Aliyev International Airport served 1.56 million passengers that exceeds the Jan-May 2017 figure by 11%.

National air carrier Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) carried 631,000 passengers, while national low-cost airline Buta Airways – 176,000 passengers.

Totally 1.34 million passengers (86% of passenger traffic) accounted for international flights. 31% of total number of international passengers accounted for AZAL and 13% for Buta Airways.

Currently, Heydar Aliyev International Airport serves more than 30 airlines on over 40 destinations. Top ten most popular international destinations include Istanbul, Moscow, Dubai, Kiev, Doha, Sharjah, Tbilisi, Baghdad, Tehran and St. Petersburg. In January-May 1.22 million passengers traveled to these destinations. The Kingdom of Bahrain’s national airline Gulf Air launched flights to Baku starting June.

The new airport terminal of Heydar Aliyev Airport (Terminal 1) was put into operation in April 2014. Its total area is 65,000 sq m.

In May 2018 the Heydar Aliyev Airport was awarded the maximum category of "5 stars" by the Skytrax, which is influential British consulting company specializing in the study of the quality of services provided by various airlines and airports worldwide.

Also the Heydar Aliyev Airport was named the best airport among airports of Russia and CIS countries for the level of the provided services, being awarded the prestigious Skytrax World Airport Awards for the second year in a row.