OMM Newsroom
Turkish media have published an intriguing claim about Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Baku. According to reports, the Israeli head of state travelled to Baku on Oct. 14 aboard an aircraft belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), flying through Turkish airspace.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that Hava Sosyal Medya, a Turkish publication specializing in aviation news, wrote that Herzog arrived in Baku on a scheduled AZAL flight. The publication Doğru Xəbər, citing data from the Flightradar24 platform, said the aircraft travelled from the eastern Mediterranean towards Türkiye, then crossed Turkish airspace before reaching Azerbaijan.
AzTV reported that flight data showed an AZAL Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner named Shusha operated the Tel Aviv–Baku route on Oct. 14. The aircraft, registered as VP-BBR, arrived in Baku as flight J2-22.
The aircraft took off from Tel Aviv at 12:06 local time and landed at Heydar Aliyev International Airport at 15:37 Baku time, according to the report.
Another point of interest is the timing of the reports. APA news agency published its first report on Herzog’s arrival in Baku at 16:19 that day, 42 minutes after the aircraft landed.
Although the flight date, route and landing time coincided with the Israeli president’s visit, no official statement or independent visual evidence has confirmed that Herzog was aboard the Shusha aircraft.
Herzog’s visit to Azerbaijan to attend COP29 was planned for November 2024 but did not take place. Reports at the time said Türkiye had refused a request for the Israeli president to fly through its airspace.
Turkish media are now discussing the claim that Herzog travelled to Baku through Türkiye on a scheduled AZAL flight.
