How Azerbaijan Airlines Turned Loyalty into an Everyday Digital Fintech Experience with Comarch

Building a More Connected Travel Loyalty Ecosystem

For Azerbaijan Airlines, loyalty is no longer limited to earning miles through flights. AZAL Miles has been evolving from a traditional frequent flyer program into a digital engagement ecosystem that connects travel, mobile payments, partner offers, and everyday customer interactions.

Under the leadership of Araz Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s national carrier has continued to modernize its loyalty strategy around one clear ambition: making AZAL Miles more useful, more accessible, and more relevant between trips.

revenue-based earning linked to actual ticket spend,
QR-enabled partner transactions through the mobile app,
flexible Cash+Miles payments at flight checkout,
automated CRM, promo-code, welcome, and birthday campaigns,
partner integrations that extend the value of miles beyond air travel.

What started as a classic airline loyalty program has become a platform for continuous customer engagement, helping AZAL create value not only when members book flights, but also when they interact with partner services in their daily lives.

The Challenge

Airline loyalty programs often face a natural engagement gap. Many customers interact with the airline only a few times a year, usually when booking a flight, checking in, or redeeming miles. For AZAL, the goal was to extend that relationship beyond occasional travel moments.

As AZAL Miles continued to grow, Azerbaijan Airlines needed a platform that could support more flexible loyalty mechanics and help the program become part of a broader digital lifestyle experience.

The airline was looking for a solution capable of:

supporting a revenue-based loyalty model,
enabling digital wallet functionality,
integrating with mobile app touchpoints,
connecting the program with external partners,
supporting automated campaigns and promo-code mechanics,
helping the airline build more frequent, meaningful interactions with members.

The Transformation

One of the key changes was the shift to a revenue-based earning model. Instead of relying only on distance-based calculations, the program can now link status miles to the actual amount spent on a ticket. This allows AZAL to recognize high-value passengers more accurately while keeping the loyalty model better aligned with business performance.

Another important step was the development of AZAL Miles as a daily digital wallet. With QR scanning available in the mobile app, members can earn and spend miles at physical partner locations, making the program more useful outside the flight booking journey.

AZAL also introduced Cash+Miles payments, giving members more flexibility at checkout. Instead of choosing between paying fully in cash or redeeming miles separately, passengers can combine both payment methods when purchasing flights.

These changes helped AZAL Miles move from a classic airline rewards program toward a more connected digital loyalty ecosystem.

Turning Miles into Everyday Value

A major part of the transformation has been the expansion of AZAL’s partner ecosystem.

Members can now interact with loyalty partners across different lifestyle, retail, technology, mobility, and financial services categories. The partner network includes brands such as Bolt, Azercell, Smart Electronics, Hertz, BCR, Azerconn, IOKIO, Mi Home, Premium Bank, and AVATR.

One of the most visible examples is the integration with Bolt. AZAL Miles members can exchange their accumulated miles for ride-hailing discount vouchers directly from their loyalty accounts. The mechanism is available across six markets: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Spain, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, with voucher values adjusted to local currencies.

This gives AZAL Miles a role beyond aviation. Miles are no longer only a future travel benefit: they can become a practical, everyday asset used across mobility and partner services.

Creating Campaigns That Drive Engagement

The current “Flight More, Earn More” campaign is designed to increase member activity by awarding an additional 1x bonus flight miles multiplier on top of standard tier-based earnings. For example, if a ticket costs €500, the member receives an additional 500 bonus miles in addition to the standard miles earned through their tier.

AZAL also uses unique CRM code campaigns to reach selected groups of both existing members and non-members. Each user receives an individual code generated through the system. Once redeemed, the code credits the account with a predefined number of miles, such as 250, 500, 1,000, or 2,000 miles, depending on the campaign setup.

For acquisition-focused activities, AZAL can also use promo-code enrollment campaigns. In this scenario, a new user joins the program and enters a dedicated promotional code, for example from a partner or influencer campaign. After successful validation, Comarch Loyalty Management automatically credits the new account with welcome miles.

The platform also supports automated lifecycle campaigns, including Welcome Miles for new members and Birthday Miles awarded annually based on the date of birth provided in the member profile.

Together, these mechanics allow AZAL to build engagement at multiple stages of the customer journey, from acquisition and onboarding to retention and repeat activity.

The Outcome

Today, AZAL Miles is more than a traditional airline loyalty program. It is becoming a digital loyalty ecosystem where travel, partner services, urban mobility, retail, and financial products work together to create more frequent customer touchpoints.

With Comarch Loyalty Management, Azerbaijan Airlines can continue expanding the program through new partners, automated campaigns, flexible reward mechanics, and mobile-first loyalty experiences.

The result is a loyalty infrastructure designed not only around occasional transactions, but around ongoing customer engagement, helping AZAL stay connected with members before, during, and long after the flight.