Transport in Azerbaijan

[4] There are about 25,000 kilometres of roads in Azerbaijan, serving domestic cargo traffic and providing access to international main highways.

Highways are mostly in fair condition and need an upgrade to international standards in a view to accommodating growing transit traffic.

The total vehicle fleet in Azerbaijan was about 517,000 in 2004, with about 49 private passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, which is quite low compared to European benchmarks but rapidly increasing due to the fast economic growth.

The main petroleum pipeline was completed in 2005 under American pressure to limit Russian and Iranian influence in the area.

It made partly obsolete the old Soviet pipeline pumping crude oil from the onshore and offshore Caspian fields near Baku west across Azerbaijan and Georgia to the port of Batumi, where the oil is either exported in its crude form or processed at Batumi's refinery.

Azerbaijan has direct maritime connections only with other Caspian littoral states (Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan).

The Caspian Sea provides vital transport links with other countries and is being used to ship oil until various pipeline projects are completed.

Total: 305 ships Ships by type: general cargo 40, oil tanker 48, other 217 Country comparison to the world: 53[5] There are regular passenger flights between Azerbaijan and former Soviet countries, UK, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, UAE, United States, China, Georgia and cargo flights to UAE, Turkey, Luxembourg, Germany, China, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku reopened in 1999 after a US$64 million upgrade and extension financed by Turkish company Enka.