ACI: Global air cargo traffic up 4% in 2016

Hong Kong and Memphis, Tenn. ranked first and second, respectively, for the busiest air cargo airports, with 4.6 and 4.3 million metric tons of cargo in 2016, according to a new report from Airports Council International (ACI).    Global air cargo traffic rose four percent last year, led by a jump in tonnage in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a new world airport traffic report that was released Oct. 6.
   According to the Montreal-based Airports Council International’s (ACI) latest World Airport Traffic Report, worldwide airport cargo volumes jumped by 110 million metric tons last year, with mixed levels of growth across all six regions.
   Hong Kong and Memphis, Tenn. ranked first and second, respectively, for the busiest air cargo airports, with 4.6 and 4.3 million metric tons of cargo in 2016, while airports in the Asia-Pacific region handled the largest amount of air cargo during the year. The busiest regions, according to the report, were:
     • Asia-Pacific at 43.4 million metric tons, up 5.4 percent from 2015;
     • Europe at 20.1 million metric tons, up 5 percent;
     • The Middle East at 8.8 million metric tons, up 2.7 percent;
     • North America at 30.8 million metric tons, up 2.4 percent;
     • Africa at 2.1 million metric tons, up 1.3 percent;
     • And Latin America-Caribbean at 5.1 million metric tons, up 0.9 percent year-over-year.
   The world’s fastest-growing airports, handling over 250,000 metric tons of air cargo during 2016, were:
     • Moscow (SVO) with 256,000 metric tons, up 28.8 percent from the previous year;
     • Doha (DOH) at 1.76 million metric tons, up 20.8 percent;
     • And Hanoi (HAN) at 566,000 metric tons, up 18.2 percent.
   The busiest airports in international freight traffic in 2016, according to the report, were:
     • Hong Kong (HKG) at 4.52 million metric tons, up 3.2 percent over 2015;
     • Incheon (ICN) at 2.60 million metric tons, up 4.5 percent;
     • And Dubai (DXB) at 2.59 million metric tons, up 3.4 percent;
   The world’s busiest airports in domestic freight traffic last year were:
     • Memphis (MEM) with 3.80 million metric tons, down 6.1 percent from 2015;
     • Louisville (SDF) at 1.91 million metric tons, up 3.3 percent;
     • And Beijing (PEK) at 1.14 million metric tons, down 1.2 percent year-over-year.
   Additional findings show that worldwide aircraft movements increased 2.7 percent in 2016 to 91.8 million, with mixed levels of growth across all six regions. Atlanta retained its position as the busiest airport in terms of aircraft movements, followed by Chicago and Los Angeles, according to the report.
   The top three contributors to global aircraft movement growth by country share were China with a 660,000-unit increase in movements, representing a 27.6 percent share of the overall global increase; the United States, with a 510,000-aircraft rise in movements (21.3 percent); and India, whose 257,000 increase in movements represented 10.8 percent of the global increase in 2016.