Flights from Baku to Cairo, Sharm to Resume in July

Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) announced that they would operate a charter flight from Baku to Cairo beginning from July 8 and another regular flight to Sharm El Sheikh as of July 18.

The announcement came during a press conference attended by Tourism Minister Rania Al Mashat and Azerbaijan State News Agency, and major media outlets in the country at the Egyptian Embassy in Baku.

Mashat is currently visiting Azerbaijan to partake in the 110th United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Executive Council Meeting.

[caption id="attachment_57252" align="aligncenter" width="791"] Tourism Minister Rania Al Mashat with Azerbaijani Officials[/caption]

The minister expressed her happiness for resuming the flights between the two countries, a matter which boosts the number of Azerbaijani tourists visiting Egypt.

"After operating these flights, the duration between Cairo and Baku will be three hours and 20 minutes instead of 14 hours," Mashat pointed out.

"The new reform plan (E-TRP) includes persifying tourism markets to Egypt especially from emerging markets like Azerbaijan, Asia, South America, Latin America, and central Europe," she added.

[caption id="attachment_57256" align="aligncenter" width="766"] Mashat in Azerbaijan[/caption]

She underscored that the Azerbaijani market is one of the promising tourism markets as the number of tourists coming from the Asian country reached four million tourists with a high expenditure rate.

The minister noted that Egypt witnessed an increase in their number in during 2017 and 2018.

"The ministry will work with Azerbaijani tour operators to organize joint promotional campaigns to introduce Egypt's tourism potentials," she went on saying.

[caption id="attachment_57257" align="aligncenter" width="786"] Mashat Shakes Hands with Officials[/caption]

In the meantime, minister Mashat met with representatives of "Selfie Travel" company - the Azerbaijani tour agent which will organize the mentioned flights to Egypt.

During the meeting, the company pointed to a high turnout to visit Egypt from its clients, saying that the firm finished booking nearly 75% of its trips to Egypt as soon as it had announced organizing the flights.

"An introductory trip for an Azerbaijani media delegation is set to be organized during the first flight from Baku to Sharm El Sheikh," it said.