In 2025, Azerbaijan Airlines, part of AZCON Holding, made digital transformation one of the key pillars of its development strategy, focusing on enhancing passenger comfort, strengthening the resilience of its digital infrastructure, and expanding its direct online sales channels. Throughout the year, the airline introduced a range of new technological solutions across every stage of the customer journey, from ticket booking and payment to a variety of travel-related services. In this interview, Vasif Mammadov, Head of Digital Commerce at Azerbaijan Airlines, discusses the airline's key e-commerce initiatives, their impact on passenger behavior, and the strategic priorities for 2026.
Last year was a productive one for Azerbaijan Airlines in terms of implementing digital solutions. What was the key approach behind these changes?
These achievements were driven by clear strategic objectives and a highly motivated professional team. Thanks to effective coordination and collaboration, we were able to implement numerous initiatives within a single year.
Our guiding principle is a customer-centric approach. We strive to make the digital experience simple, convenient, and accessible at every stage of the passenger journey. Throughout the year, we systematically enhanced our e-commerce platform, enabling passengers to manage their travel independently and with greater flexibility, from purchasing tickets and selecting ancillary services to accessing real-time flight information.
What new features have been introduced to enhance customers' self-service capabilities and the online ticket booking process?
We have introduced the ability for passengers to change or refund tickets purchased through the Azerbaijan Airlines website or mobile application without having to contact our Call Center. By accessing the "Manage Booking" section, customers can modify their travel dates or request a refund in accordance with the applicable fare rules. During 2025, nearly 25,000 passengers used these self-service features, saving valuable time for our customers while significantly reducing the workload of the airline's Call Center.
Another important enhancement is our real-time passenger notification system. Since 2025, passengers have been automatically informed via email, WhatsApp, and the AZAL mobile application about flight cancellations or delays, as well as changes to terminals and boarding gates. This allows customers to monitor flight updates in real time, make timely travel decisions, and plan their journeys more efficiently.
We have also significantly enhanced the online booking experience. The interface has become more intuitive, while search and filtering capabilities have been expanded, enabling passengers to select flights based on fare, departure time, and flight duration with greater flexibility.
One example is our Fare Lock service, which allows customers to lock a ticket price for either 24 or 72 hours. This provides additional flexibility during the booking process, giving passengers more time to finalize their travel plans without worrying about losing their seats or facing fare increases. Once they decide to proceed, they can simply return to the "Manage Booking" section and complete their purchase.
In addition, we integrated Apple Pay and Google Pay into our payment process. Today, more than 20% of all payments made through the AZAL mobile application are completed using these digital wallets.
What new ancillary services are available to customers booking tickets through the AZAL website and mobile application?
Today, passengers expect much more than simply purchasing an airline ticket online. Alongside flights, baggage, and seat selection, they also want access to airport lounges, hotels, airport transfers, car rentals, tours, and other travel services through a single platform.
Global aviation trends clearly show that airlines are evolving toward a retailing model, offering personalized products and ancillary services directly through their own digital platforms. This approach enables customers to plan their entire journey in one place and purchase all the services they need through a single application.
As part of this strategy, we analyzed international best practices and carefully assessed passengers' needs throughout their travel journey. Based on these insights, we introduced ten new ancillary services across our digital platforms during 2025.
Among them, the AZAL Upgrade program has attracted particularly strong customer interest. It allows Economy Class passengers to upgrade to Premium Economy or Business Class at preferential rates. Less than a year after its launch, the service has already been used by more than 20,000 passengers.
Other recently introduced services include Extra Seat Blocker, which provides additional comfort on long-haul flights by allowing passengers to reserve the adjacent seat; Junior Traveller, which enables online booking for children travelling unaccompanied by their parents, making the process simpler and more convenient; and Air Tastes, which allows passengers to pre-order personalized premium meals before departure. Each of these services has been designed to meet the specific needs of different passenger segments and is already being widely used.
Through partnerships with leading international companies, passengers booking via AZAL's digital platforms can also benefit from a range of travel services on preferential terms, including:
eSIM services provided by Airalo;
hotel reservations and car rentals through Booking.com;
airport transfer services via GetTransfer;
tours and travel experiences through GetYourGuide.
In addition, through our partnership with HTS (Hopper Technology Solutions), we introduced our latest digital service, DAFAR (Disruption Assistance For Any Reason). This solution provides passengers with alternative travel options and immediate assistance in the event of flight delays or cancellations, helping minimize travel disruptions and reducing uncertainty throughout the journey.
We have also made significant progress in implementing localized payment solutions for international markets. In China, Alipay and WeChat Pay have been integrated into AZAL's digital platforms, enabling customers to pay using their preferred payment methods. In Uzbekistan, our partnership with Uzum Bank allows customers to purchase tickets using HUMO and UZCARD payment cards. These initiatives enable us to better accommodate local payment preferences while continuously improving the customer experience across international markets.
How has the role of the AZAL mobile application evolved for users?
The AZAL mobile application has evolved far beyond being simply an alternative sales channel. Today, it serves as the primary platform for maintaining continuous engagement with our passengers and encouraging ongoing user interaction.
Over the past year, the number of application users has doubled, driven by continuous feature enhancements and active promotion. The app has received outstanding customer ratings on both the iOS App Store and Google Play, scoring 4.9 and 4.7 out of 5, respectively, based on thousands of user reviews. While these ratings reflect a high level of customer satisfaction, we continuously improve the application by carefully analyzing user feedback.
The mobile application also plays an important role in increasing customer engagement. During promotional campaigns, users receive real-time push notifications about special offers, discounted destinations, and limited-time promotions. This approach not only keeps customers informed but also encourages higher engagement and increases repeat visits to the platform.
The Personal Account functionality transforms the AZAL mobile application from a booking platform into a personalized travel management tool. Registered users can view both their past and upcoming journeys in the "My Trips" section, while also managing their AZAL Miles account directly within the application.
Additional features, such as the ability to add electronic boarding passes to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet during online check-in, together with real-time flight status notifications, ensure continuous digital engagement with passengers throughout their entire journey.
Ultimately, for us, the mobile application is not simply a sales channel. It is the cornerstone of our long-term digital relationship with our customers.
What are your key priorities for this year?
One of our key priorities for 2026 is to further enhance the digital customer experience.
To support this objective, we have launched a large-scale UX/UI transformation of both the azal.az website and the AZAL mobile application. Our goal is to deliver more intuitive navigation, a faster booking process, and highly personalized user journeys.
As part of this initiative, we are partnering with a global design company that has successfully delivered similar transformation projects for international airlines. Together, we are developing a new user experience based on international best practices, with a strong focus on making our digital platforms even more intuitive and customer-friendly. We expect to complete the design phase in the coming months, after which development of the new versions of both the website and the mobile application will begin.
In parallel, throughout 2026 we will continue strengthening the scalability and resilience of our digital platforms, expanding available payment methods, and further growing our presence across international markets.
We also plan to gradually introduce artificial intelligence technologies across our digital ecosystem. Our primary focus will be on deeper analysis of customer behavior, the development of personalized offers and recommendation engines, optimization of dynamic content and marketing campaigns, and making customer support faster, smarter, and more efficient.
