The project was the beginning of an exciting encounter between the Orient and the Occident. Between people from the Caucasus, curious about a completely new adventure with balloons in the sky of Azerbaijan and three balloonists from Germany, curious about a country "at the end of the world".
Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, is located three meters below sea level and is the most important port city of the Caspian Sea. Its about two million inhabitants celebrate the most important festival in the year: “Gül Bayrami”, the flower festival. In 2010, a balloon presentation in the sky over Baku, in honor of the late President Heydər Aliyev, was supposed to be the highlight of the event.
First of all, many questions had to be clarified on both sides, because Azerbaijan has previously been new territory for balloonists. Things that seemed so simple to us such as size and equipment of the balloons, artwork, approval, permits, take-off and landing area, transport to and in Azerbaijan and last but not least the weather had to be clarified during our first encounters.
The timely manufacture of the envelopes was an important part of the project. Thanks to the digital printing press acquired in 2009, Cameron Balloons Ltd. was able to print the "Flowers of Baku" on the balloon fabric in first-class image quality. Due to the well-established partnership between Cameron and the Luftwerker, the project handling went according to plan.
