Hong Kong was again the world’s number one cargo airport by freight tonnages, registering a six percent increase during 2014 to 4.4m tonnes.
Annual statistics released by Airports Council International (ACI) show that FedEx hub Memphis was in second place with 4.3m tonnes, a rise of 2.9%, followed by Shanghai, up 8.6% to 3.2m tonnes, Incheon with 2.6m tonnes (+3.8%) and Anchorage at just under 2.5m tonnes (+3%).
According to ACI, worldwide airport cargo volumes increased by 4.7% in 2014 to 102m tonnes, with “positive levels of growth across all six regions”.
The position of the top four cargo hubs remained unchanged in 2014 versus prior year, with Anchorage overtaking Dubai International (DXB) to grab fifth place.
However, the Middle East airport has been transferring pure freighter cargo volumes to the nearby Dubai World Central (DWC) airport as part of a dual hub strategy for the emirate.
Airports in the Asia-Pacific region handled the largest amount of air cargo during 2014 at 40.5m tonnes, up 6.3% over 2013, said ACI.
North America registered a 3% rise to 28.9m tonnes, while Europe saw a 3.2% increase to 18.4m tonnes.
The Middle East recorded the largest annual percentage increase in cargo volumes at 7.4m tonnes, up 9.2% over 2013.
Latin America-Caribbean volumes rose by just 0.6% to 5m tonnes and African airport throughputs were up 5.1% to 1.9m tonnes.
Said ACI: “The world’s air cargo market is highly concentrated, with the top 30 air cargo hubs handling 53% of global air cargo volumes. “
The world’s busiest airports for international freight traffic were Hong Kong, Incheon and Dubai. The world’s busiest airports for domestic freight traffic were Memphis, Louisville and Beijing.
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