Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), the national airline of Azerbaijan, received yesterday the first of four EMBRAER 190s on order. The aircraft will be deployed on the carrier’s international network from Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD). The three remaining aircraft are scheduled for delivery by the end of the year.

The four E190s are part of an acquisition of six E-Jets. Two 76-seat E170s purchased from ECC Leasing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Embraer, will also join the fleet later this year.

All of AZAL’s E190s are configured with 106 Elite seats in a single class layout. The first aircraft is scheduled to start flying from Baku to Nakhchievan and Tbilisi, Georgia. The airline also plans to fly the E190 on longer international routes in the near future.

“This first AZAL E190 will be instrumental in improving new regional links and connectivity around Baku, just as E-Jets have done in so many other parts of the world,” said Paulo Cesar Silva, President & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “Together with the E170, the sizes of the new aircraft are ideal for adding incremental capacity as markets grow as well as complementing AZAL’s larger aircraft fleet.”

“The arrival of the first E190 in AZAL’s fleet is an important milestone in our strategic renewal plan to replace turboprops and narrow-bodies in some of our markets,” said Jahangir Askerov, President and Chairman of the Board of Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC. “The E190’s excellent operating economics and range open up new market opportunities for us, specifically to key business destinations. The comfortable cabin is particularly important for the longer routes we intend to fly with the E190 to Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.”

AZAL joins a growing list of new operators in Eastern Europe and Central Asia that have added E-Jets to their fleets, including Air Astana, Air Lituanica, Air Moldova, Belavia, Bulgaria Air, Estonian Air, Montenegro Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Ukraine International Airlines.