Image: Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport

Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD) has welcomed a new operator: the private Pakistani low-cost carrier (LCC) Airblue, which has commenced scheduled direct flights between Lahore and Baku. Services between the Azerbaijani capital and Pakistan’s second-largest city—a key industrial, cultural, and transport hub in the country’s northeast—will operate twice weekly.

The route is already served by the respective national flag carriers: Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) operates six weekly frequencies, while Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) maintains two. In addition to the Lahore route, AZAL continues to operate direct services between Baku and Islamabad.

This expansion of air links is underpinned by the strengthening of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan across strategic sectors, including defense, trade, investment, and agriculture. Baku Airport officials characterized Airblue’s entry as a “pivotal milestone in the development of air communication between Azerbaijan and the South Asian region.”

As Pakistan’s second-largest airline and a pioneer of the low-cost model in the region, Airblue currently operates a fleet of 12 narrow-body Airbus A320-family aircraft.