The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) resisted grounding the aircraft until 13 March 2019, when it received evidence of accident similarities.

In July 2017, an investigation[12] by the leading Bulgarian daily newspaper Trud, which has a reputation for investigative crime reporting,[13] reported that Silk Way Airlines exploited a loophole in the international aviation and transport regulations to offer flights to arms manufacturers and private companies – with much of the cargo heading for conflict zones including Central Asia and Africa.

In the investigation, the reporter accused responsible authorities of many countries (e.g. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, as well as to the militaries of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the military forces of Germany and Denmark in Afghanistan, of Sweden in Iraq, and the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)) of allegedly "turning a blind eye and allowed diplomatic flights for the transport of tons of weapons, carried out by civil aircrafts [sic]; for military needs.

"[12][16] The Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs called information of Bulgarian media on transportation of weapons by "Silk Way" under the cover of diplomatic immunity misleading.

[19] In 2020, it was alleged again that Silk Way Airlines were transporting Israeli-made weapons from Ovda Airport in Eilat, Israel to Azerbaijan, on behalf of Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

It was speculated that Israel sold advanced weaponry to Azerbaijan on operations against Armenian forces, and Silk Way Airlines were contracted to transport the orders.