Azerbaijan is about to get a lot easier to reach from Western Europe. Azerbaijan Airlines will launch four direct flights a week between Brussels and Baku from 8 May 2027, a route announced by Florian Sengstschmid, CEO of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board, at the Euronews Travel & Tourism Summit 2026.
The new connection plugs a gap for European travellers. Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport already holds a five-star rating in Skytrax's regional rankings, and the national carrier was named best regional airline in Central Asia by Skytrax this year. Over the past decade, Sengstschmid says, Baku has grown into a genuine regional hub rather than a stopover point.
But the tourism board's real pitch is what happens after you land. Sengstschmid wants visitors to treat Baku as a gateway, not the destination — heading out along old Silk Road corridors, through side valleys and heritage villages, past UNESCO World Heritage Sites and up into the Greater Caucasus. Highlights he name-checked include the Khan's Palace in Sheki and mountain settlements where life runs at a very different pace to the capital.
One spot getting particular promotion is Sim, a village in southern Azerbaijan he describes as a fairy-tale with moss — wooden houses, waterfalls and dense greenery that he says feels almost jungle-like, despite being firmly inside Azerbaijan. It's a fair illustration of the country's range: you can move from semi-desert to peaks above 4,000 metres within one trip, and the climate zones shift accordingly.
Tourism is a serious business there. In 2025 it generated 7 billion Azerbaijani Manat (around €3.5 billion), or 5.4% of GDP. The country has built its profile by hosting big international events — Formula 1 races in Baku, plus Eurovision and COP29 in earlier years — and the new Brussels route is the logical next step in courting European leisure travellers.
Why it matters: for years, reaching Azerbaijan from Western Europe usually meant connecting through Istanbul, Vienna or the Gulf. A direct Brussels service changes the maths for a city-break-plus-terrain holiday — a weekend in Baku's old city and flame-shaped skyline, then two or three days driving into the mountains or south to the greener regions. It also puts Azerbaijan in direct competition with Georgia and Armenia for travellers eyeing a Caucasus trip, which should keep fares and hotel value competitive.
Sengstschmid sums up the country in three words: "real, warm and uplifting". If the flights land on schedule in May 2027, spring is a good window to test that claim — before the summer heat hits the lowlands and while the mountains are still accessible.
