Worldwide airport cargo volumes rose by 4.7 per cent in 2014, year-on-year to 102 million tonnes, wiThpositive levels of growThacross all six regions according to the Airports Council International (ACI) in the latest edition of its World Airport Traffic Report.
Hong Kong (HKG) and Memphis (MEM) take the first and second places respectively for the busiest air cargo airports wiTh4.4 million and 4.3 million tonnes of cargo handled in 2014. Airports in the Asia-Pacific region handled the largest amount of air cargo during 2014, followed by North America, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, respectively (over 2013):
1. Asia-Pacific (40.5 million tonnes, up 6.3 per cent)
2. NorThAmerica (28.9 million tonnes, up 3.0 per cent)
3. Europe (18.4 million tonnes, up 3.2 per cent)
4. Middle East (7.4 million tonnes, up 9.2 per cent)
5. Latin America-Caribbean (5.0 million tonnes, up 0.6 per cent)
6. Africa (1.9 million tonnes, up 5.1 per cent)
The ACI’s World Airport Traffic Report also noted that the world’s air cargo market is highly concentrated, wiThthe top 30 air cargo hubs handling 53 per cent of global air cargo volumes.
Hong Kong and Memphis remain the busiest airports in terms of air cargo traffic (4.4 and 4.3 million metric tonnes of cargo respectively). The two Shanghai airports – PVG and SHA – handle 3.6 million tonnes combined, taking the third position in the air cargo hubs ranking.
The world’s busiest international airports for international freight traffic, respectively (over 2013):
1. Hong Kong, China – HKG (4.4 million tonnes, up 6.0 per cent)
2. Incheon, SouThKorea – ICN (2.5 million tonnes, up 3.3 per cent)
3. Dubai, UAE – DXB (2.4 million tonnes, down 3.1 per cent)
The world’s busiest domestic airports for domestic freight traffic, respectively (over 2013):
1. Memphis TN, USA – MEM (4.0 million tric tonnes, up 3.4 per cent)
2. Louisville KY, USA – SDF (1.8 million tonnes, up 4.3 per cent)
3. Beijing, China – PEK (1.0 million tonnes, down 0.1 per cent)
“Despite the uneven recovery in the global economy, there was a net increase and commodities in 2014,” said Angela Gittens, director general of ACI World.
“The overall flow of exports and imports by sea, land and air, measured by world trade volumes in goods and services, has grown.
The American economic rebound and the rise in consumer spending helped stimulate major exporters of high-tech goods such as tablets, laptops and mobile phones. This helped awaken the air cargo market in the last quarter of 2013 and into 2014 after several years of sluggish growth.
Looking ahead ACI noted that preliminary airport traffic results for the first half of 2015 show encouraging signs of steady growThin boThthe global cargo and passenger markets. Although the rate of growThin air cargo markets has slowed compared to 2014, air cargo is estimated to have grown by over 3.0 per cent for the first half of 2014 as compared to the previous year. The overall passenger growThrate in the first six months of 2014 was in the order of 5.0 per cent, which is slightly above the equivalent year-over-year figure from 2014.