AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines (J2, Baku Heydar Aliev International) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Boeing (BOE, Washington National) for four incremental B787-8s with plans to add another four by 2030.

"Azerbaijan Airlines was the first airline in the Caspian and Central Asia region to operate the B787-8 Dreamliner and we currently have two B787-8s in service. This MoU is evidence of joint efforts to scale up the mutually beneficial partnership between Azerbaijan Airlines and Boeing," President Jahangir Asgarov said.

The state-owned airline said it would use the additional B787s to grow its Central Asian network.

The announcement made during the 2022 Farnborough Air Show did not detail any delivery timelines let alone AZAL's plans for the addition of the other four to increase its fleet to ten. AZAL did not respond to ch-aviation's request for added colour.

The Azeri flag carrier currently owns and operates two 2014-build B787-8s. The ch-aviation fleets module shows that the airline's widebody fleet also includes two A340-500s, three B767-300ERs, and a single B777-200(LR). It previously said that it would gradually replace the other widebody types with B787s.