Several of the world’s main cargo airports have reported record-breaking tonnages for 2010following an extraordinary year of recovery for the air freight sector.
The world’s busiest international cargo airport, Hong Kong International, saw volumes grow 23.4%to reach a new record of 4.13 million tonnes last year, with outbound cargo growing more than 27%and inbound volumes increasing 17%. December volumes were up a more moderate 10%, reflectingtougher comparison figures for December 2009, when volumes had already started to recover. Withinthe December figures was a 21% surge in transhipments, an 8% increase in exports and a 7% rise inimports. North America and Europe were particularly strong, each registering double-digityear-on-year growth.
The airport’s largest handler, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal (Hactl), also hit a new handlingrecord of 2.9 million tonnes – an increase of 24.8% and 14.5% against 2009 and 2008 respectively,and surpassing the previous record high of 2.63 million tonnes achieved in 2007.
Executive director Lilian Chan said export demand stayed strong throughout the year as a resultof the robust economic recovery, although growth in the third and fourth quarter was milder, due tothe higher base effect in the second half of 2009. She described 2010 as “an extraordinary year ofroller-coaster recovery from the global economic downturn” and said there were “strong prospectsfor air freight in the region” and another busy year ahead. “Asian carriers are in a strongposition as a result of the exploding demand in China where consumer sentiment is high,” Chanadded.
Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore’s Changi Airport recorded its fifteenth consecutive month of airfreight growth, with a 4.1% year-on-year increase to 155,000 tonnes in December. Full-year volumesrose 11% to 1.81 million tonnes, making Changi the world’s seventh busiest airport in terms ofinternational freight traffic handled, and the busiest in south-east Asia.
Europe’s busiest cargo airport, Frankfurt, achieved a new historic record for air freighttonnage in 2010, which jumped by 21.5% to 2.23 million tonnes. The figures follow a decline of10% in 2009, but last year’s tonnages are well above the 2008 figure of 2.043 million tonnes andthe pre-crisis record levels of 2.095 million tonnes in 2007. The airport’s tonnages for Decemberwere up just 3.3% year-on-year, reflecting the tougher comparison figures of 2009, which was partof a strong recovery that started in September 2009. Mail volumes continued to decline, however,dropping 4.7% in 2010 to 76,000 tonnes. This follows a decline of 11.3% in 2009, and drops of 5.1%and 1.8% in 2008 and 2007 respectively.
Fraport spokesman Robert Payne told CEP-Research he was hopeful that air freight volumes wouldcontinue to grow at Frankfurt this year, although the airport’s cargo growth levels are expected tobe far more moderate in 2011 than in 2010, and were dependent on the performance of the German andother major economies. Frankfurt’s air mail figures were primarily international traffic, he added.Mail tonnages had been declining at Frankfurt since 1995, reflected the gradual industry-widedecline in mail volumes due to substitution to new electronic communication forms.
Elsewhere in Europe, airports operator BAA reported 14.2% growth overall for its six UK airportsin 2010, with the two largest, Heathrow and Stansted, recording 15.2% and 10.4% growth respectivelyto 1.437 million tonnes and 202,000 tonnes. Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport has yet to publish itsDecember or full-year figures, although 11-month figures show 18% freight volume growth, but adecline in mail traffic of more than 14% year-on-year.
The Middle East’s busiest cargo airport, Dubai, also has yet to publish its full-year figures,although volumes for the first 11 months of 2010 were up 19.3% to 2.081 million tonne, despite aflat November. In the US, the full-year figures for New York’s JFK airport are still beingfinalised, although it recorded growth of more than 21% for the first eleven months to 1.28 milliontonnes. Its mail volumes were down 1.9% year-on-year.
