Hong Kong and Changi airports both reported a strong rebound in cargo volumes last year as they continued to benefit from returning passenger flights.
The world’s busiest cargo hub, Hong Kong, saw its cargo volumes increase by 14% year on year to 4.9m tonnes.
The increase comes as flight movements at the airport increased by 12.5% - close to pre-pandemic levels as passenger airlines continued to restart flights.
Cargo volumes would also have benefited from strong e-commerce demand and reflected overall industry growth.
However, percentage growth levels did ease as the year progressed - partly reflecting 2023 volume progression - and in December cargo volumes were up by the lower amount of 6.6%.
"Traffic to and from key trading regions in Europe, the Middle East and Australasia saw the most substantial increases,” the airport authority said.
"The increase in cargo traffic in 2024 was mainly attributed to exports, which was up 20.2% compared with 2023, and the most significant increases were recorded in traffic to and from key trading regions in Europe, North America and the Middle East.”
Looking ahead, the airport is expecting to benefit from the launch of its third runway, which opened in November, and more passenger flights - and therefore more bellyhold capacity.
The airport said that in January HK Express launched a new flight route to Sendai, while Hong Kong Airlines resumed direct flights to Vancouver and Gold Coast. Shenzhen Airlines launched a new service to Nanjing, while a new passenger airline, Air Premia, is starting to operate flights between Hong Kong and Seoul.
Sea-air boost for Changi
Growth in cargo demand was also reported at Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Last year, the airport handled just under 2m tonnes of freight, which represents a 14.6% increase compared with a year earlier.
The airport’s cargo business would have benefitted from additional bellyhold capacity due to the restart of passenger operations but also from rising demand for electronics and sea-air volumes due to disruption to container shipping as a result of missile attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.
"Growth was seen across all cargo flows – exports, imports and transhipments, contributed by major improvements in cargo flows between Singapore and China, as well as the US,” the airport said.
"Growth was also driven by the recovery of Singapore’s electronics exports and re-exports, strong global demand for cross-border e-commerce shipments and the modal shift from ocean to airfreight arising from disruptions in maritime transport. For the year, Changi’s top five air cargo markets were China, Australia, the United States, Hong Kong and India.”
The airport also welcomed two new freighter airlines in 2024 – Shandong Airlines, which also resumed passenger services during the year, and Air Incheon. Two new freighter city links were added, connecting Singapore to Haikou and Nagoya.
European airports have also been reporting their annual cargo figures in recent weeks, with the continent's largest cargo hub, Frankfurt, registering a 6.2% increase, Heathrow a 10.4% improvement, Liege a 15.6% jump and Schiphol was up 8%.
