Chairman of the Alat Free Economic Zone Board Valeh Alasgarov has said that a cargo airport at Azerbaijan’s Alat Free Economic Zone is expected to open by the end of the first quarter of 2027.

“The construction of the cargo airport began in April 2024 and will be completed by the end of this year. It will be ready for operation no later than late March or early April 2027,” Alasgarov said at the German-Azerbaijani Connectivity Conference under the title "Mobilizing Finance for Infrastructure, Transport, Logistics, Green Energy and Digitalization along the Middle Corridor", according to Caliber.Az.

Alasgarov said direct access to transport capacity is increasingly important for many sectors of modern high-tech industry. In this regard, the Alat Free Economic Zone has partnered with local cargo carrier Silk Way Airlines to establish the airport and surrounding logistics infrastructure.

A 750-hectare plot of land has been allocated for the project.

The airport will initially have the capacity to handle 500,000 tons of cargo annually, with plans to gradually increase this figure to at least 2 million tonnes per year, Alasgarov said.

He said that locating the cargo airport within the Alat Free Economic Zone is expected to help reduce traditional customs clearance delays, complex transit logistics and bureaucratic oversight related to dual-use goods.

The project is part of broader efforts to strengthen Azerbaijan’s transport and logistics infrastructure along the Middle Corridor, which connects Asia and Europe through the South Caucasus.