Herzog Flies to Baku on Azerbaijan Airlines Flight Over Turkey Despite Ban on Israeli State Aircraft
Why It MattersCommercial airlines are the only routing still open for Israeli officials where Turkey denies state aircraft access, leaving flag carriers in the Caucasus to absorb that diplomatic traffic.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Wednesday for a day-and-a-half visit to the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). He travelled on a commercial Azerbaijan Airlines flight J222, which crossed Turkish airspace even though Turkey bars Israeli government aircraft from using it. Flightradar24 data and footage of the welcoming ceremony show the flight left Ben-Gurion Airport at 11:35 a.m. and landed in Baku at 3:40 p.m., and images showed Herzog arriving on an Azerbaijan Airlines Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, matching the aircraft type recorded for the flight.
His team chose the commercial flight over a longer route via Greece, Bulgaria and the Black Sea, which was considered potentially dangerous because of continuing attacks on vessels there amid the Russia-Ukraine war. Israel's official Wing of Zion aircraft was unavailable because of maintenance work. Turkey permits commercial flights of Israeli and foreign airlines to cross its airspace on routes to and from Israel. A Turkish official said Azerbaijan had not informed Ankara that Herzog was aboard, that Turkey cannot obtain the passenger manifest of every airliner passing through, and that Israel had stopped submitting airspace requests because it already knew Ankara's position. The President's Office declined to comment on the flight details.
Turkey's restrictions have disrupted earlier trips. Herzog cancelled a planned visit to the COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan in November 2024 amid reports that Turkey had refused permission for the state aircraft, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed a Baku visit in May 2025, with reports citing Ankara's refusal to let Wing of Zion cross Turkish airspace. Netanyahu's office cited developments in Gaza and Syria and a demanding schedule. Social media users noted the plane carrying Herzog was named "Shusha", a name linked to the 2021 Azerbaijan-Turkey Shusha Declaration.
When Herzog addressed the summit, representatives of Iran, Turkey, Kuwait, Pakistan and the Palestinian Authority left the hall, while the emir of Qatar and representatives of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Central Asian countries remained. Herzog met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev before the gathering. On Thursday morning, as voting opened at Israeli diplomatic missions abroad ahead of the October 27 election, he visited the Israeli Embassy in Baku with Ambassador Ronen Krausz and urged Israelis to vote.
