Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, Azerbaijan, to Kadyrov Grozny International Airport near Grozny, Russia, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines. On 25 December 2024, the Embraer E190 operating the flight was severely damaged by a Russian surface-to-air missile during the aircraft's approach to Grozny. The pilots attempted to divert but the hydraulic system failed, leading to a loss of control and ultimately a crash near Aktau International Airport in Aktau, Kazakhstan, with 62 passengers and 5 crew on board. Of those 67 people, 38 died in the accident, including both of the pilots and a flight attendant, while 29 people survived with injuries.

Approximately 40 minutes after takeoff, as the aircraft entered Russian airspace and neared Grozny, the crew reported losing GPS navigational aids, due to jamming. Foggy conditions were also reported by the airport. As the plane approached its destination, 81 minutes into the flight, passengers reported an explosion and shrapnel striking the aircraft. In radio transmissions, the pilots attributed the event to a bird strike and requested a diversion. They initiated emergency protocols, including squawking 7700 on the transponder, and redirected the flight over the Caspian Sea toward Kazakhstan.

However, after the crash, the aircraft was found to be riddled with holes in its fuselage, some containing fragments of foreign metal objects, damage inconsistent with a bird strike but resembling the impact of a surface-to-air missile. On 26 December, Euronews reported that Azerbaijani officials had determined the plane had been hit mid-flight by a Russian missile during efforts to repel a Ukrainian drone attack as part of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Shrapnel from the blast injured several passengers and cabin crew. On 27 December, The New York Times reported that Azerbaijani investigators believed a Russian Pantsir-S1 air-defence system had damaged the plane before it crashed. On 4 February, Reuters reported that investigators had recovered a fragment of a Pantsir-S missile from inside the fuselage.

On 28 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, for the "tragic incident" involving the aircraft in Russian airspace. He stated that Ukrainian drones had been targeting Grozny at the time and that Russian air defences had repelled these attacks, but he did not confirm that the flight had been shot down or acknowledge Russian responsibility. On 29 December, President Aliyev said that Russia had accidentally shot down the plane, accused Russia of attempting to obfuscate and "hush up" the crash, and demanded a full admission of guilt, punishment for those responsible, and compensation for the victims and their families. On 9 October 2025, Putin admitted that the plane was accidentally downed by a Russian missile, suggesting that the missile detonated several meters away from the aircraft.

Accident

The flight, with a scheduled takeoff time of 08:10, took off from Heydar Aliyev International Airport, Baku, at 07:55 on a flight to Kadyrov Grozny International Airport with a scheduled arrival at 09:10.

Approximately 40 minutes after takeoff, as the aircraft entered Russian airspace near Grozny, the crew reported to air traffic control that it had lost GPS navigational aids. At the same time, the aircraft's Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) signal, a system used for real-time aircraft tracking, also disappeared. These occurrences strongly indicate that the aircraft was subjected to "GPS jamming." Such interference is prohibited under international regulations established by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Civil Aviation Organization, both of which count Russia as a member. Despite these regulations, GPS jamming has been employed by the Russian military to counter Ukrainian drone operations. GPS jamming has become a recurring issue for flights and is frequently encountered when entering Russian airspace.

As the plane departed Grozny, passengers reported an explosion and shrapnel striking the aircraft. At 09:16 AZT the crew reported a "control failure" due to a "bird strike in the cockpit." They asked to divert to Mineralnye Vody Airport, but upon hearing the weather, asked instead to divert to Uytash Airport in Makhachkala. Shortly after, at 09:22 AZT, the crew reported a hydraulics failure. Air traffic controllers told the crew not to attempt a landing in Makhachkala due to poor weather. The crew issued a distress signal by squawking 7700 at 09:25, reporting a failure of the control system.

At 09:49, the pilots requested an emergency landing at Aktau International Airport and attempted to manage the approach in direct mode, with the estimated landing time set for 10:25 (11:25 Kazakhstan time AQTT, UTC+05:00). At 10:00 (11:00 AQTT), the Emergency Situations Department of the Mangystau Region sent emergency response teams and resources to Aktau airport.

The plane entered Kazakh airspace at 10:02, reappearing on ADS-B at 10:07 while flying over the Caspian Sea towards Aktau. Altitude and speed data from ADS-B transmissions indicated the aircraft experienced extremely varying altitude and speed values.

Unable to land at the first attempt, the aircraft initiated a go-around manoeuvre to re-position for another runway approach. As it was making a third turn, at 10:28, communication between the pilots and air traffic control was lost. At 10:30, the airliner struck the ground three kilometres (1.9 mi; 1.6 nmi) from the airport, with its right wing hitting first. It then tumbled, exploded, and broke into two major pieces. The explosion, combined with the fire that broke out after the plane crashed, destroyed the front section of the plane. The tail section of the plane came to rest upside down away from the main wreckage, and remained largely intact. The crash was captured on video, which showed that the landing gear was deployed when the plane hit the ground. In response, additional resources and personnel from the Emergency Situations Department, initially stationed at the Aktau airport, arrived at the scene at 10:35 and were deployed at an elevated emergency rank, extinguishing the fire by 11:05 AZT (12:05 AQTT). A surviving crew member said that the pilots initially ordered them to prepare for a water landing before changing to a ground landing.

Of the 67 people on board, 29 survived, and 38 died. Of the five crew members aboard, two flight attendants survived, and both pilots and one flight attendant were killed. Authorities said all of the fatalities occurred at the scene. The 29 survivors, including two children, were hospitalised following the accident for injuries that included closed craniocerebral injuries, brain concussion, closed chest injuries, and traumatic shocks. Eleven of them were in critical condition. Most of the survivors were believed to have been seated in the rear section of the aircraft.

Background

In the weeks preceding the crash of Flight 8243 on 25 December 2024, Chechnya's capital, Grozny, was under increased military tension due to repeated Ukrainian drone attacks following Russian invasion of Ukraine. On 12 December, a drone strike damaged a Chechen OMON police regiment facility, injuring several personnel; similar strikes had occurred on 4 December and earlier that autumn. As a result, Russian authorities reportedly employed heightened air defense and electronic warfare systems, including GPS jamming, to repel suspected drone incursions in the region.

This elevated military posture persisted through late December. On the day of the crash, airspace over Grozny was subject to an active no-fly zone, purportedly aimed at countering drone threats—despite ongoing civilian traffic and with visibility impacted by dense fog.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved, which was manufactured on 26 June 2013, was an Embraer E190AR (Advanced Range), the longest range variant of the aircraft. It was registered as 4K-AZ65, and named Gusar after the Azerbaijan regional capital city. It was powered by two General Electric CF34-10E6G07 engines, and underwent its last maintenance on 18 October 2024. Since 2013, the aircraft was operated by the airline, except from 2017 to 2023, when it flew under the airline's subsidiary Buta Airways. The aircraft was 11 years old at the time of the crash and had logged around 15,257 flight hours.

Passengers and crew

There were 62 passengers on board. Among them, 37 passengers were citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 of Russia, six of Kazakhstan, and three of Kyrgyzstan. Two children were on board.

The aircraft had a crew of five: two pilots and three flight attendants, all of whom were Azerbaijanis. Captain Igor Kshnyakin was the pilot in command while his copilot was First Officer Aleksandr Kalyaninov. Kshnyakin had over 15,000 hours of flight time. The pilots of the plane and flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva were buried at the II Alley of Honor. President Ilham Aliyev posthumously awarded them the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan, while the two surviving crew members, Zulfiqar Asadov and Aydan Rahimli, were awarded the Order of "Rashadat" (Courage) of the 1st degree.