TEHRAN – An Azerbaijani airline is slated to launch flights from the capital city of Baku to the Iranian city of Mashhad on Monday.

The Baku-Mashhad-Baku route will be operated by one of the Azerbaijani airlines twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, Mehr reported on Saturday. It is projected that daily flights to be launched between the two cities in the future.

It is forecast that more than 3,000 Azerbaijani Shia pilgrims will travel to Mashhad per month, the report added.

Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan Razavi province, attracts thousands of domestic pilgrims each day. The raison d’être is the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Shia Imam. The metropolis embraces dozens of five-star hotels, hotel apartments and hostels. It has the highest concentration of water parks in the country, and it is also home to a variety of cultural and historical sites, which are generally crowded.

AFM/MG