Last year was another turbulent year for the air cargo industry as the rapid growth experienced in 2021 turned to decline and capacity began to open up as passenger networks re-opened.
Despite the demand declines, volumes stayed ahead of pre-Covid levels and rates remained far above the levels achieved in 2019 as disruption continued to plague supply chains due to Covid restrictions and worker shortages.
Capacity also remained tight out of key trade lanes from Asia as Covid restrictions in China and Hong Kong meant passenger operations were not able to recover to the same extent as elsewhere.
It was also a busy year for the Air Cargo News website as our page views surged 9.6% year on year to 2.9m.
With that in mind, here is a quick recap of our most-read stories of 2022.
10) China supply chains hit as lockdowns are rolled out
In March of last year supply chains faced further pressure when a series of new lockdown measures were put in place in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
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9) Shipping giant Maersk launches new air cargo business
In April, shipping giant AP Moller Maersk launched its new air cargo business as it looked to meet customer demand for supply chain security.
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8) Air Canada buys two B767-300Fs as revenues climb
Air Canada continued to invest in cargo last year and announced the purchase of two new Boeing 767-300 freighters.
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7) Hong Kong suspends flights from eight countries
Last year kicked off with the news that Hong Kong would ban passengers from eight countries from entering the country for 14 days - a blow for bellyhold operations.
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6) CargoLogic Germany suspended from EU airspace and CargoLogicAir fleet inactive
The war in Ukraine has had a huge impact on air cargo, not least on freighter operators CargoLogic Germany and CargoLogicAir.
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5) Deutsche Bahn prepares for the sale of DB Schenker
Deutsche Bahn is preparing for the sale of its freight forwarding subsidiary DB Schenker as it looks to focus on its core rail business.
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4) Amazon targets freight forwarding with Global Logistics offering
At the start of the year it was reported that Amazon was looking to ramp up its freight forwarding business as the e-commerce giant continued to expand its supply chain offering.
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3) Top 25 air cargo carriers for 2021 revealed
Our fourth most popular story looked at which were the largest cargo airlines in 2021 based on IATA statistics.
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2) EU to end cargo-in-the-cabin flights
Our second most popular story last year was the news that The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) would put a stop to cargo-in-the-cabin flights beyond July 31.
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1) Top 25 airfreight forwarders: Kuehne+Nagel takes top spot from DHL
Our annual look at the top 25 forwarders always does well and last year it was our most-read story as Kuehne+Nagel became the world's largest airfreight forwarder