food on a tray on a plane
Trip Report: Azerbaijan Airlines Business Class Dubai to Baku

Trip Report: Azerbaijan Airlines Business Class Dubai to Baku

Sam Chui·
A320Azerbaijan AirlinesTrip ReportTrip Report Business Class

I recently flew on Azerbaijan Airlines A320 from Dubai to Baku to join on a unique cargo flight of Silk Way IL-76:

Trip Report: Flying The Soviet Transporter IL-76 to Iraq

Here are the pictures of my flight onboard Azerbaijan AIrlines (AZAL).

a sign with text and numbers on it
two women standing in an airplane

The A320 has 20 Business Class and 110 Economy Class seats. The leg room is more than enough in Business Class (Estimate 50" pitch) but it does not go fully flat.

a seat in an airplane
a plate of pastries and a glass of liquid on a tray
Welcome drink consists of choices of juice and champagne, along with a local pastry.
a hand holding a blue bag
A small amenity kit is included on the seat.
Azerbaijan Airlines A320 Business Class cabin
Azerbaijan Airlines A320 Business Class cabin
an airplane wing and a city
We departed from Runway 30L out of Dubai, with Northerly direction flying towards Iran. Flight time was 2 hours 20 minutes.
a map of the middle east

A full "course by course" lunch is on the menu. There are 4 main course choices on this short sector.

a menu of a restaurant
a menu of a restaurant
a hand holding a menu

The airline serves locally sourced wine from Azerbaijan.

a book with text and a purple card
a white and blue label with black text

I received a full tray of appetizers, nuts, salad, cheese and a choice of bread.

food on a tray on a plane
a tray with food on it
a basket of bread and rolls
a person holding a bottle of wine
The wine was dry and quite strong.
a plate of rice and meat
Main course: Chicken "Murkutush" with saffron butter rice.
a hand holding a group of small jars
a table with a bowl of tea and fruit
The dessert was equally amazing, with red velvet cake, dry fruits, tea and a bowl of Russian candies.

The flight was only about half full. Azerbaijan Airlines is facing some tough low-cost competition on the UAE route, competing with FlyDubai, Air Arabia etc.

a plane with many seats

The meals in Economy Class are impressive. A full tray of food with eggplant salad, beef pasta or chicken with barley and a cake.

I found the portion of food on AZAL is more generous than even most long-haul flights.

a tray of food on a tray
a tray of food on a tray

The clear weather gave away to overcast and windy weather over the Caspian Sea. The sea is quite choppy with a lot of waves on our final approach to Baku. It is known as quite a windy city as it is on the Caspian Sea.

an airplane wing and the sky

After landing, I was picked up by my friend Samir from Silk Way Airlines.

two men standing next to a car

Summary

Azerbaijan Airlines seems like an old-school government airline that still provides good catering and decent full service on their flights. They are boutique in size but have quite a large type of fleet including A319, A320, B757, B767, B787 and A340-500. The airline hasn't fully tapped into the good location of Azerbaijan, by offering a good network between the East and West to transit through Baku. The non-stop New York to Baku flight has been suspended.

Here are some Pros and Cons I observed from my flight experience with them:

Pros

  • Good food and full service.
  • Good infrastructure at Baku Airport.

Cons

  • Not in an alliance and offer a limited transit network through Baku.
  • No Wi-Fi onboard.

In 2016, I flew on their A340-500 which is now the World's Last Active A340-500 in service. Take a look at the trip report:

Review: Azerbaijan Airlines Business Class A340-500 and B767-300

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