Incheon International Airport moved up a notch to become the second busiest cargo airport in 2021, according to airport trade body Airports Council International (ACI) World.

The airport, located some 40 kilometres west of Seoul, handled 3.23 million tonnes of international cargo last year, up 18.6 percent from 2020. It previously ranked third in the world for international cargo in 2019 and 2020.

Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) on Chek Lap Kok Island retained the top spot as it processed 4.98 million tonnes of international freight in 2021, up 12.8 percent from the previous year.

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Shanghai Pudong (CVG) airport dropped one spot to third over the same period, followed by Taiwan’s Taoyuan airport (TPE) and Narita airport (NRT) in Japan. Rounding up the top 10 were Doha (DOH), Anchorage (ANC), Dubai (DXB), Frankfurt (FRA) and Miami (MIA).

ACI said air cargo volumes jumped close to 15 percent year-over-year (+3.5% versus 2019), to an estimated record 124 million metric tonnes in 2021. The top 10 airports collectively represented around 25 percent (31.5 million metric tonnes) of the global volume in 2021, up 12.1 percent versus the previous year (up 15.0 percent from 2019).

The trade body noted that the gain can be attributed to the continued increase in demand for online consumer goods and pharmaceutical products.