• Central Asia’s air cargo market has grown nearly 40 percent in four years, driven by e-commerce, high-value goods, and strategic east–west and north–south connectivity.
• Silk Way West Airlines has shifted focus to the region, with Central Asia now accounting for 45 percent of its sales and strong positions in Azerbaijan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Georgia.
• Investments in airports, multimodal corridors, and liberalised air rights are transforming the region into a primary logistics hub, though challenges like infrastructure gaps and fuel volatility remain.

Central Asia has long been seen as a peripheral market for air cargo, overshadowed by the Gulf and major Eurasian hubs. But geopolitical shifts and new infrastructure are changing that dynamic. For Silk Way West Airlines, the region is no longer secondary — it is fast becoming central to its growth strategy.

A market on the rise

Air cargo traffic across Central Asia has expanded by nearly 40% in just four years. “Air cargo traffic in the region has grown steadily and significantly from 1.8 million tonnes in 2020 to 2.5 million tonnes by 2024,” said Vugar Mammadov, Vice President CIS, Central Asia & Turkey at Silk Way West Airlines.

This growth is being fuelled by cross-border e-commerce, rising demand for high-value goods, and supply chains reconfigured by the closure of Russian airspace. “Geopolitically, the region sits at the intersection of Europe, Asia and the Middle East, offering strategic connectivity for both east–west and north–south trade,” he added.

That strategic location is now being reinforced by new infrastructure. Investments in airports at Baku, Almaty and Tashkent are creating capacity for larger volumes and more specialised cargo flows. Multimodal corridors — linking road, rail, sea and air — are also beginning to knit together.

“These fundamentals position the region as a prime destination for long-term investment in logistics, warehousing and distribution facilities,” Mammadov said. He pointed to Kazakhstan’s stronger transit role and Azerbaijan’s expanding trade and consumption base as evidence that the market is moving beyond its traditional function as a technical stop.

Shifts in Silk Way’s portfolio

The airline’s own performance reflects the shift. In 2022, Central Asia accounted for 29 percent of Silk Way West’s sales. By 2024, that figure had climbed to 45 percent. “This 60 percent gain in just two years demonstrates the region’s contribution to our profitability and the effectiveness of our focus on high-potential trade corridors,” Mammadov said.

Silk Way West has entrenched its market leadership in Azerbaijan and built strong positions in China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Georgia. Its footprint in the Gulf — in markets such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait — remains more modest, but the airline sees those as long-term opportunities to scale.

Mammadov described a dual approach: consolidating dominance in smaller, fast-growing Central Asian markets while steadily expanding into the Gulf for scale and stability. “Central Asia is emerging as the next air cargo growth engine, while the Gulf provides the scale and stability to anchor regional networks,” he said.

This strategy recognises that while the Gulf hubs dominate global flows, Central Asia offers agility, proximity to China, and access to new trade corridors. For an airline like Silk Way West, which operates a widebody freighter fleet across continents, combining these advantages is central to its positioning.

Mammadov stressed that the shift is not only about location but about structural change. Liberalisation of air rights, investment in handling facilities, and the rise of e-commerce are all transforming what was once a secondary theatre into a primary market. “The fundamentals are in place for long-term growth,” he said.

But the region also faces hurdles: fragmented infrastructure, fuel price volatility and the need for greater digitalisation in cargo handling. Whether Central Asia’s airports and carriers can sustain growth will depend on how quickly these challenges are addressed.

Silk Way West’s regional bet reflects a wider trend. Airlines, forwarders and investors are increasingly treating Central Asia as a logistics corridor in its own right rather than an adjunct to Russia or the Gulf. If current growth rates continue, the region’s volumes could double again before the end of the decade.

For Mammadov, the direction is clear. “Geography has always been our advantage, but now the ecosystem is catching up,” he said. “The next phase is about building scale and resilience — and Central Asia will be at the heart of it.”