Airlines stop flights to Azerbaijan

Conflict at the edge of Europe: Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Caucasus for decades. Now fierce battles have broken out between the states. Azerbaijan continued its offensive on Tuesday (29 September).

This also has consequences for the airports in Azerbaijan. They have been closed to all commercial passenger flights. State-owned Azerbaijan Airlines confirmed this on Monday and announced that flights would be suspended until at least Wednesday.

Limited operations in Baku

The airline has also cancelled several services beyond the end of September. Flights to London and Berlin on October 1 and October 2 respectively will not operate. International airlines, including Flydubai, Aeroflot from Moscow and Belavia from Minsk will not operate to or from Azerbaijan over the coming days, according to Azerbaijan Airlines.

The suspension of passenger flights to and from Azerbaijan follows the country’s decision to impose martial law due to the ongoing military conflict with neighboring Armenia. As a result, Baku’s airport switched to very limited operations.

Avoiding Armenia and Azerbaijan

Ukraine International Airlines cancelled its flight to Yerevan, the Armenian capital, on September 28. The company says it is reviewing its connections to both Azerbaijan and Armenia for early-October.

In response to a request from aeroTELEGRAPH, Lufthansa confirmed on Tuesday that it is avoiding the region’s airspace since Sunday. «We are closely monitoring further developments», the German airline said.