JSC Azerbaijan AirlinesAZAL, Azeri: Azərbaycan Hava Yolları), is the flag carrier of Azerbaijan, with its head office in Baku. Its main base is Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, from which it operates a network of scheduled passenger and cargo services.

On 20 October 1910, a plane flew over Baku for the first time. After this introduction of aviation to Azerbaijan, it took only 13 years for the new mode of transportation to acquire an official status in the region: the Caucasus Joint Stock Company of Civil Aviation - ZAKAVIA - was established in 1923. Despite the imperfections, the international air route Kharkov-Baku-Bandar-e Pahlavi was opened in 1929, while in 1933, the first flight to Moscow over the Caucasus ridge was carried out, shortening the distance of the route by 1100 km. A regular air route between Baku and Moscow was opened in 1937. On 2 June 1938, the first aviation group was established in Azerbaijan.

In 1990, Azerbaijan announced that it was setting up its own airline, and that it would be independent of Aeroflot, the long-time provider of air services for the Soviet republics. Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) was officially established on August 17, 1992. Formed from the regional branch of Aeroflot, Azerbaijan Airlines, also known as Azerbaijan Hava Yollari, soon spread its wings into the world outside the Soviet Union, which had been Aeroflot's exclusive domain.

In November 1994, AZAL began a route to Dubai, which, along with Istanbul, was a key source of Western goods. It was soon also flying to Tehran, Tel Aviv, Saint Petersburg, London, and China.

The country invested in a new air traffic infrastructure, including a new airport terminal and new air traffic control facilities (air traffic control had to deal not only with arrivals and departures, but with more than 1,600 overflights a month, noted Flight International).

The construction of the Baku Cargo Terminal (BCT), completed in March 2005, has made Baku one of the major transfer points for cargo proceeding from the west eastwards and from the north southwards.

In January 2011, Azerbaijan Airlines received the European service standard from the European Economic Chamber of Trade, Commerce and Industry (EEIG).