BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 20. Azerbaijan plans to make air ticket prices more affordable and increase the country’s competitiveness among target tourism markets as part of efforts to develop the tourism sector.
This is outlined in the “State Program for Tourism Development for 2026–2030,” approved by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, today.
The program’s action plan identifies improving airfare affordability as a separate priority area.
Under the document, from 2026 through 2030, Azerbaijan plans to analyze the competitiveness of air ticket prices on routes connecting the country with target tourism markets that have direct air links, compared with competing regional tourism destinations.
The program also envisages conducting cost-benefit analyses in the transport and tourism sectors to identify factors negatively affecting airfare prices and develop measures to address them. The main expected outcome of these measures is achieving competitive air ticket prices that would contribute to increasing the number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan.
The program also includes plans to expand the geography of direct air connections between Azerbaijan and foreign countries and increase flight frequencies. In particular, Azerbaijan aims to launch flights to at least one new target tourism destination annually between 2026 and 2030, with at least 4 new destinations added in total. Flight frequency on existing routes is planned to increase by 20 times.
As part of the program, Azerbaijan also plans to encourage the introduction of new international flights and attract low-cost airlines to regional airports. For this purpose, the country will analyze opportunities and incentive needs for attracting international flights and low-cost carriers to airports located in the regions.
The program also envisages developing and coordinating incentive and compensation mechanisms related to airport fees, ground handling charges and passenger load factors. As a result, Azerbaijan aims to increase the share of regional airports in international passenger transportation.
