# Balad Southeast Airport / Joint Base Balad

> Al Bakr, IQ · Medium Airport

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| City | Al Bakr |
| Country | IQ |
| Type | Medium Airport |
| Elevation | 49 m |
| Cargo | ❌ |
| GPS | 33.94020, 44.36160 |

## Description

Despite appearing in airport databases, Balad — Joint Base Balad, originally Al-Bakr Air Base — is not an option for commercial air freight: it is an Iraqi Air Force installation roughly 80 km north of Baghdad with no public cargo handling and no customs facility open to trade. Built in 1983, it was run by US forces as Camp Anaconda and then Joint Base Balad from 2003 until the handover to Iraq on 8 November 2011, and it now hosts the Iraqi Air Force's 9th Fighter Squadron flying F-16s. Access is controlled and limited to military and government-tasked flights. Shippers moving goods into central Iraq route through Baghdad International Airport (BGW), the country's principal cargo gateway, with Erbil (EBL) as the main northern alternative. Road distance from Baghdad to the Balad area is around 80 km, typically one to one and a half hours depending on security and checkpoint conditions. Any reference to Balad as a freight destination should be read as a military supply movement rather than a bookable air cargo service.

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*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/balad-southeast-airport-joint-base-balad-airport-503](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/balad-southeast-airport-joint-base-balad-airport-503)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/balad-southeast-airport-joint-base-balad-airport-503](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/balad-southeast-airport-joint-base-balad-airport-503)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/balad-southeast-airport-joint-base-balad-airport-503/llm-summary*