Heydar Aliyev International Airport

Heydar Aliyev International Airport is the principal airport of Azerbaijan and by a very wide margin the country's busiest aviation facility, located 15 mi (24 km) northeast of central Baku on the Absheron Peninsula beside the Caspian Sea. GYD handles 124 routes to 80 destinations with 41 airlines — a carrier count unusually high for a national flag-carrier-dominated airport and a signature of Baku's strategic position at the junction of Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the South Caucasus. The airport is named after the former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev, father of the current president. Following the extensive Terminal 1 rebuild completed in 2014 — designed by Istanbul-based Autoban and featuring distinctive wood-cocoon interior architecture that has won multiple international design awards — GYD is widely regarded as one of the most architecturally distinctive major airports in Eurasia. Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) — the national flag carrier — operates its principal hub at GYD, using the airport as the base for its pan-European, Russian, Gulf, CIS, and long-haul Asian network. Buta Airways (AZAL's low-cost subsidiary, currently being merged back into the parent), FlyOne Armenia (via Moscow triangular routing where applicable), Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, Aeroflot, S7 Airlines, Pobeda, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Air France, British Airways, Ukraine International (historical), Qatar Airways, Emirates, Saudia, flydubai, Etihad, Oman Air, Gulf Air, Iran Air, Mahan Air, Air Arabia, Air Astana, Uzbekistan Airways, Pegasus, Wizz Air, AnadoluJet, SCAT Airlines, and a rotation of CIS and Central Asian operators all operate. GYD's multi-directional connectivity makes it one of the Caucasus's two most important international transfer points, alongside Tbilisi. The airfield sits at just 10 ft (3 m) elevation with two asphalt/concrete runways: 16/34 at 13,123 ft (4,000 m) and 17/35 at 10,499 ft (3,200 m). The runways are long enough to support any aircraft type and have regularly hosted widebody long-haul operations. Terminal 1 handles the majority of passenger traffic; Terminal 2 is used for low-cost and charter operations, while a dedicated general-aviation and VIP facility supports Azerbaijan's large private-jet movement. GYD is also a significant cargo airport anchoring the Caspian Silk Road Middle Corridor freight network.