AZAL-Service is a recently established FBO arm of the Azerbaijan Republic's state-owned Azerbaijan Airlines. Based at the capital, Baku, the company was set up to support burgeoning foreign business aviation traffic through the oil rich region of the former Soviet Union, AZAL-Service's director Namik Safikhanov told Show News.

AZAL-Service aims to provide high quality and efficient service from its dedicated lounge, which has customs and frontier guards in attendance and also boasts audio-visual systems, telephone and internet services-and a bar.

AZAL's English-speaking staff will assist with visa applications and can arrange short-notice overflight and landing permissions, runway and airways slots, hotel reservations, ground transport and security escorts for passengers, in addition to flight-planning, weather and discounted fuel services.

Baku Airport currently handles 30 to 40 foreign business aircraft a month. Safikhanov and business aviation chief agent Natalia Sinyakayeva are here at EBACE (Booth 7282) to promote the new FBO as an ideal technical stop.