Azerbaijan’s Silk Way East Airlines shuts down

Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Group has closed and will liquidate its Silk Way East Airlines (Baku) unit, local news agencies reported on June 9 citing a statement circulated by the country’s State Tax Service (Azərbaycan Dövlət Vergi Xidməti). Creditors have been told they can submit any claims they have within a period of two months to the group’s address at Baku Airport. Silk Way Airlines (ZP, Baku) incorporated the subsidiary in October 2016 but it remained merely a proposed cargo carrier within the group without launching operations, which have continued both at fellow subsidiary and cargo specialist Silk Way West Airlines (7L, Baku) and at the parent carrier. The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that Silk Way West currently operates a fleet of five B747-400(FSCD)s and five B747-8(F)s, with five B777-200Fs on order, on flights across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Silk Way Airlines continues as an operator of five Il-76TD freighters, and the group also includes business charter specialist SW Business Aviation (ESW, Baku). A previously owned Italian subsidiary, SW Italia (IU, Milan Malpensa), closed in 2019. In October 2020, Azeri media reported that Silk Way Group’s shareholders had decided to halve the registered capital of Silk Way West, to AZN79.3 million (USD46.7 million at the time). The tax service had recorded the change in August 2020, with no reasons given for the move. Silk Way West Airlines was not immediately available for comment.