Azerbaijan aviation: capacity shortage = airline opportunities

On 29-May-2019, English premier league football teams Arsenal and Chelsea will contest the Europa League final in Baku. Fans of the two London teams have bemoaned the challenges of travelling to Azerbaijan's capital city for the Wednesday evening game. The only scheduled airline operating between London and Baku is Azerbaijan Airlines, with just three weekly flights in May-2019, rising to five in the Aug-2019 summer peak period.

Apart from London Heathrow, Azerbaijan has only five other direct routes to/from Western Europe (Paris CDG, Berlin Tegel, Frankfurt, Milan Malpensa and Geneva). Lufthansa is the only Western European airline serving the country (from Frankfurt). Azerbaijan has enjoyed strong growth in seat capacity and route numbers since 2015, but this has been driven by connections to Eastern/Central Europe and the Middle East. Connectivity beyond its near neighbours is low.

It has only three direct long haul routes (New York, Beijing and Urumqi - the last of which barely counts as long haul) and must rely for connectivity beyond short/medium haul on the hubs of others. Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, Aeroflot, Qatar Airways, Etihad and China Southern are the only airlines with significant global networks that serve Azerbaijan.

The Europa league final is part of a concerted effort by Azerbaijan to put itself on the tourism map.