General, business and visiting military airplanes also use the airfield, along with two flight schools and aviation- and logistics-related businesses. The Federal Aviation Administration, which has provided $46 million in improvement money through a program for former military airports, reported that takeoffs and landings more than doubled over the last 20 years to nearly 300,000.

Even though operations at the airport were increasing, SkyBridge was not an obvious project at first.

The idea was the brainchild of Marco Lopez, who had worked for Customs and Border Protection and was familiar with government operations in the United States and Mexico. He said he saw a disparity in the e-commerce delivery times in the two countries that seemed ripe for a solution, and the former military base had the space and the infrastructure to provide one.

“We can’t have a system where you can get something delivered the next day in America and in Mexico it takes seven days,” he said. “Mexico is a key trade partner, and the customs services from the U.S. and Mexico have been looking for years for new technology to expedite trade and commerce.”

If the SkyBridge project allows retail and business products to be delivered directly to their international destinations, it could prompt new routes from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Mr. Lopez said.

Airfreight is the fastest growing method of transporting goods across the United States border at Arizona, according to the office of the governor, Doug Ducey. The annual value of goods shipped through the state is estimated to be $390 million and is expected to exceed $600 million in the next five years.