Strategic Sky: How Azerbaijan’s airspace became a pillar of global resilience amid geopolitical turbulence

In June 2025, heightened geopolitical instability in the Middle East forced many airspace closures, affecting Iran, Israel and their neighbouring countries. This triggered an urgent reassessment of routing options for international carriers travelling between Europe and Asia. With minimal disruption, our organisation – AZANS – ensured operational continuity and absorbed hundreds of flights diverted to the North over Azerbaijani airspace. This was more than a contingency path: AZANS demonstrated what long-term investment in resilience, coordination, and modernisation can deliver.

A Surge in transit flights: The numbers behind the response

Between 13 and 23 June, AZANS recorded 10,838 total flights through Azerbaijan’s airspace, 8,207 of which were transit flights, with an average of 110 additional daily overflights redirected from temporarily closed airspaces in the region.

This growth is not an anomaly. Transit traffic over Azerbaijan had already increased by 20 per cent in June 2024 compared to 2023, and June 2025 is projected to see an additional 13 per cent growth.

AZANS was not just a backup option – our network was ready to alleviate global traffic disruptions. What we observed in June was the validation of long-term strategy, not short-term improvisation. Since 2022, Azerbaijan’s airspace has played a vital role in providing alternative and efficient air routes in response to regional geopolitical crises.

In order to absorb this new wave of traffic, AZANS activated its multi-layered contingency response plan within hours:

• ATC rosters were reinforced for peak-hour coverage
• Sector configurations were restructured in real time to handle increased load
• Reserve teams and support systems were mobilised to avoid bottlenecks
• All services were scaled without compromising quality or safety

As a result, Azerbaijan demonstrated its ability to swiftly accommodate rerouted traffic, with no ATC delays or procedural disruptions during this period of regional pressure.

Proactive investment in ATM technology

Crucially, AZANS did not face ATC system constraints in response to the crisis. Instead, our organisation benefited from years of prior investments in advanced air traffic management technologies and procedures such as:

• Trajectory-Based Operations (TBO)
• Flow Management Procedures (FMP)
• Digital monitoring and flow management platforms
• Data-driven decision-making capabilities
• ATC system upgrade programmes

These systems enabled rapid, data-driven decision-making and supported AZANS in balancing capacity across sectors without compromising predictability or controller workload.

A trusted transit hub for the industry

Today, more than 200 international airlines routinely use Azerbaijani airspace. In 2024 alone, approximately 50 million passengers flew through these routes.

At the peak of the recent crisis, over 25 leading carriers – including Turkish Airlines, Air France, British Airways, and Singapore Airlines – fully rerouted their flights over Azerbaijan, demonstrating high confidence in AZANS’s network reliability. Despite these rerouting pressures, all Azerbaijani international airports continued operations without delays or service interruptions.

What enabled this level of resilience?

AZANS’s performance was no coincidence. It reflected:

• Long-term infrastructure and systems investments
• Professional and scalable human resources planning and trainings
• Full compliance with international safety and performance standards
• Regional Collaboration

Joint activities between Türkiye and Central Asian ANSPs, focusing on airspace and route development, air traffic flow management, and the harmonised implementation of the latest ATC technologies with neighbouring air navigation service providers, enabled effective and coordinated airspace use.

These pillars helped AZANS manage the crisis effectively – offering not just a safe sky, but also a strategic air bridge for global aviation, supporting the vital air transport supply chain in a time of uncertainty.