Should AZAL have notified Turkey about the Israeli president's flight? Haber Global revealed details

A number of foreign media outlets and social networks are actively circulating publications related to the flight route of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Baku, where he participated in the 7th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

As reported by BAKU.WS, Haber Global prepared a special report dedicated to this topic.

According to information obtained by journalists of the Turkish TV channel, Israeli President Isaac Herzog used a regular commercial Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) flight during his visit to Azerbaijan. The Turkish side, in turn, confirmed that it had no knowledge of the Israeli president being on board the civilian aircraft.

But how does this system actually work in international aviation? Should Turkey have known about the presence of the Israeli president on board the aircraft?

It should be particularly emphasized that no country is obligated to notify transit states about passengers on board scheduled flights. International aviation regulations do not provide for such an obligation.

This matter is governed by the regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and standard procedures applied in international air navigation.

When a civilian aircraft operates a scheduled flight on an international route, the flight plan, aircraft type, air corridor, and basic technical data are transmitted to the air traffic control services of transit countries. However, information about the identity of passengers or the presence of high-ranking persons (VIPs) on board is under no circumstances communicated.

It is important to understand the context: the ban introduced by Turkey applies exclusively to Israeli governmental and state aircraft, including the official presidential plane known as the "Wing of Zion" (Kanaf Tzion). This ban was introduced amid a sharp deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations following the escalation of the conflict in Gaza in October 2023.

Since AZAL aircraft operate standard commercial flights, the aircraft freely used Turkish airspace — without the need to request special permission for the transit of a high-ranking Israeli government official.

As a reminder, the 7th CICA Summit was held on October 15 in Baku with the participation of more than 50 delegations, including representatives of 29 member states, observer states, partners, and international organizations. CICA is an intergovernmental forum established at the initiative of the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, in 1992, uniting Asian countries to strengthen security and cooperation on the continent.

The summit was attended by heads of state and government of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Israel, Cambodia, and a number of other countries, foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia, China, and other states, as well as high-ranking official representatives.