World's cargo hubs see volume growth weaken in 2018
According to the preliminary world airport traffic rankings published by Airports Council International last week, the air cargo market did not fare as well as passenger traffic (+6%) with a year-end growth figure of 3.2%. This is a much lower growth rate than in 2017 (7.7%), but it is affected by global trade tensions between the USA and several of its closest trade partners.
HKG remains the largest air cargo centre, handling more than 5 million t and its volume growing by 1.4%. Memphis (+3.1%) came second and Shanghai PVG (-1.5%) third.
Doha, Qatar’s main hub, is still one of the fastest-growing and busiest airports in the world for air cargo throughput. With almost 2.2 million t (+8.8%), it moved from 16th to 11th in the rankings. An exclusive interview with Qatar Airways chief officer cargo, Guillaume Halleux, will be published in ITJ 13-14/2019, out next Friday! (ah)