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Hong Kong International Airport was again the world’s busiest port last year in terms of airfreight throughput, according to Airports Council International (ACI). Hong Kong defended its title, although the volume of airfreight handled there plunged 16.5% from the previous year to 4.2 million tons. Memphis International Airport remained in second place, where throughput fell 9.8% to 4.04 million tons. Ranked third was Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, which bumped up a notch from fourth place in 2021, processing 3.46 million tons. Shanghai Pudong International Airport, on the other hand, fell to fourth place, as it only handled 3.12 million tons, which plunged 21.7%. Climbing up from sixth to fifth place was Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in the U.S., where 3.07 million tons were handled, which improved 0.5%. Incheon International Airport went down from fifth to sixth place with a volume of 2.95 million tons, which shrank 11.5%. Air cargo to and from Narita International Airport decreased 9.3% to 2.4 million tons, dropping it from ninth to 10th place.
Global air cargo volumes contracted 6.7% from the previous year to some 117 million tons in total. ACI attributes the decline to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as world trade and supply chain disruptions.
Most airfreight was processed at major airports last year. The combined volume at the top 20 airports amounted to 49.5 million tons, accounting for some 42% of the global total. The greatest increase in throughput of 16.8% was registered at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, where Amazon Air and DHL Express both have air cargo hubs.
