Azerbaijan Airlines

Azerbaijan Airlines is one of those airlines you don’t see every day in central Europe – and that is exactly what makes it interesting. Azerbaijan’s state-owned airline connects Baku on the Caspian Sea with Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Its fleet ranges from the Boeing 787-8 through the Airbus A320 family to the Embraer 190, plus older types that are gradually disappearing. Here you will learn how to place AZAL with confidence and where you can get it in front of your lens in German-speaking countries.

Azerbaijan Airlines at a glance

Azerbaijan Airlines, AZAL for short, is Azerbaijan’s national airline and is owned by the state, bundled through the holding company AZCON. Its headquarters and only hub is Baku. Its roots lie in the Soviet era: after the collapse of the Soviet Union, AZAL emerged in 1992 from Aeroflot’s Azerbaijani division and took over its aircraft – mainly Soviet types.

The first phase was shaped by exactly these types. For a long time, the most important workhorse was the Tupolev Tu-154, which AZAL did not finally retire until 2013. In cargo, the then subsidiary AZAL Avia Cargo, founded in 1996, flew with the Ilyushin Il-76, among others. This division was later absorbed back into the parent company. Most of the cargo out of Baku is now handled by other airlines in the country, above all Silk Way West Airlines.

In the 2000s, AZAL turned to Western manufacturers. The airline placed orders with Boeing and Airbus, and since 2006, flight operations have run through the newly founded Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC. A milestone came in December 2014: on December 23 and 24, AZAL took delivery of its first two Boeing 787-8s and introduced a premium economy class with them.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code J2: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board, on the ticket and in the airport’s flight schedule.
• ICAO code AHY: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign AZAL: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio – identical to the airline’s abbreviation.

While AHY fits the Azerbaijani name Azərbaycan Hava Yolları well, J2 is a combination of a letter and a digit with no recognizable link to the name. Why codes often have so little to do with the name is explained in the article IATA and ICAO codes explained. You can find the difference between flight number and callsign in the post Callsign or flight number?.

Buta Airways: the low-cost episode

At the end of 2016, AZAL announced its own low-cost brand. The first attempt under the name AZALJet lasted only about a year, then Buta Airways took over. The brand flew with Embraer jets, its own livery and its own fares. From January 2018, it also went to Europe, with a weekly connection to Sofia.

In July 2023, AZAL announced it would fold Buta back into the main brand, and by October 2023 the step was complete. For spotters, that means photos with Buta livery are historical documents today. The Embraers themselves keep flying – now as AZAL. Part of the AZAL fleet, by the way, carries not an Azerbaijani registration but one from Bermuda with the prefix VP-B, such as the Embraer 190 “Fuzuli” with the registration VP-BRV; in photos, VP-B registrations also show up on A320neos and 787s.

The fleet: 787 for long-haul, Airbus for Europe

The AZAL fleet is more varied than at many airlines of comparable size. That is due to its history: several waves of orders at Boeing, Airbus and Embraer have overlapped, and the former Buta fleet comes on top. At the same time, the fleet is being restructured. Publicly available fleet overviews (as of late 2025) paint roughly this picture:

Type	Role	Status	Spotter note
Boeing 787-8	Long-haul	in service since December 2014, more on order	With business, premium economy and economy; the airline’s flagship
Airbus A320 and A319	Short and medium-haul	in service	Older generation with smaller engines
Airbus A320neo	Short and medium-haul	in service, more on order	Newest generation of the narrowbody fleet
Airbus A321neo	Medium-haul	in service	Longest type of AZAL’s Airbus narrowbody fleet
Embraer 190	Regional and short-haul	in service	Partly from the ex-Buta fleet, partly with VP-B registrations
Boeing 767-300ER	Long-haul and state flights	small sub-fleet	According to overviews, one example flies for the government
Boeing 757-200	formerly medium-haul	stored since 2024 according to overviews	Practically no longer in scheduled service
Airbus A340-500	formerly long-haul	being phased out	AZAL was among the last operators of this rare version

The Boeing 787-8 is the type most spotters associate with AZAL. As early as 2007, the airline had ordered three examples from Boeing; the first two arrived in Baku at the end of 2014. Further orders followed later, with which the long-haul fleet is growing and replacing older types. How to tell the 787 from its big rival is covered in the article A350 or Boeing 787?.

On Europe flights, you will mainly meet the A320 family. The fact that AZAL flies both older A320s and the newer A320neo is a nice exercise for the eye: you recognize the neo by its significantly larger engines. The guide A320neo or ceo? sums up all the features. And if you still mix up the A319, A320 and A321, you will find help at Telling the A320 family apart.

The Russian Irkut MC-21 also appears on order lists. Whether and when it will actually fly at AZAL is open – don’t count on it in your spotting planning.

State aircraft around AZAL

A special feature for spotters with a taste for exotics: besides its scheduled fleet, AZAL also operates aircraft for the Azerbaijani government. Fleet overviews list VIP aircraft such as an Airbus ACJ319, an A340-600 and a Boeing 777-200LR with a VIP cabin. Such aircraft follow no scheduled timetable, but come for state visits, summits and conferences.

When an Azerbaijani delegation travels to a summit in Europe, it is therefore worth watching for registrations with 4K-. How to recognize such visits and what to keep in mind at the spot is covered in the guide Spotting government aircraft.

How to recognize AZAL

The most reliable feature is not the livery, but the registration. Azerbaijani aircraft carry the prefix 4K-, at AZAL often in the form 4K-AZ followed by two digits. The fuselage carries the “Azerbaijan Airlines” titles.

A nice detail is the names. Many AZAL aircraft are named after cities and regions of Azerbaijan – such as the A320 “Shirvan” (4K-AZ80) or the A319 “Gazakh” (4K-AZ05). If you document your sightings carefully, you can record these names right away. You will find more on the subject in the post on aircraft names, and how a registration is structured is explained in Understanding aircraft registrations.

Network and partners

From Baku, AZAL flies to Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, Central Asia and on to Asia. In Europe, the network includes London, Paris, Milan, Geneva, Prague and Sofia, among others, plus seasonal vacation destinations. The hub in Baku lies about 20 kilometers northeast of the city and has two long runways; the modern Terminal 1 opened in April 2014.

AZAL does not belong to an alliance. Instead, the airline works with numerous partners through codeshares, including Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, Qatar Airways, airBaltic and Uzbekistan Airways. What is behind codeshares is explained in the article Codeshare flights explained.

In the region, AZAL competes with other airlines from the Caucasus and Central Asia, such as Air Astana or Georgian Airways. If you are interested in this corner of aviation, you will find exciting fleets at all three.

Flight J2 8243: the crash near Aktau

On December 25, 2024, AZAL lost an Embraer 190 with the registration 4K-AZ65 and the name “Gusar.” The aircraft was on its way from Baku to Grozny in Russia, was hit on approach by fragments of a Russian anti-aircraft missile and crashed after a flight across the Caspian Sea near Aktau in Kazakhstan. 38 of the 67 people on board died, 29 survived.

Russia acknowledged in October 2025 that one of its own anti-aircraft missiles had hit the aircraft. After the accident, AZAL had suspended numerous connections to Russia. For the airline’s network, this was a clear setback that shows how strongly political crises affect schedules in this region.

Spotting AZAL in German-speaking countries

In Germany, AZAL flies to Berlin Brandenburg; Berlin Tegel used to be the destination. In Austria, Vienna was added in May 2023, and with Geneva there is also a destination in Switzerland. On these routes, AZAL mostly uses A320-family aircraft. Because there are only a few rotations per week or day, every sighting is a small stroke of luck – and especially worthwhile for spotters who deliberately collect rare airlines.

Plan the sighting as precisely as possible: check the schedule, check the runway direction in use and find a spot where the light suits the arrival time. When conditions are best is explained in the article The best time of day for plane spotting.

Common mix-ups

• Taking J2 for a country code – J2 is a pure IATA airline identifier.
• Assigning every 4K registration to AZAL – Silk Way West and Silk Way Airlines also fly with 4K-.
• Dismissing VP-B as a “foreign” airline – part of the AZAL fleet is registered in Bermuda.
• Thinking Buta Airways is still active – the brand has been merged into AZAL since October 2023.
• Equating the A320 and A320neo – AZAL flies both generations, the engines reveal the difference.
• Logging VIP jets as scheduled aircraft – state aircraft follow no regular timetable.

Conclusion

Azerbaijan Airlines is an airline for spotters who like to look more closely. Behind the abbreviation AZAL stands a state-owned network airline with Soviet roots, a mixed fleet of Boeing, Airbus and Embraer, and a short low-cost episode under the name Buta. In German-speaking countries it is rare, but plannable – especially in Berlin and Vienna.