Airports Council International World’s list of the top 20 busiest global airports for air cargo traffic in 2022 is largely consistent with 2021’s rankings–Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) retained the No. 1 spot–even as cargo volumes decreased year over year at airports throughout the world.
The COVID-19-related surge in cargo traffic–which saw many major airlines temporarily transitioning grounded passenger aircraft into freighters–clearly ended in 2022. According to Airports Council International (ACI), global air cargo volume dropped 6.7% year over year in 2022 to 117 million metric tons. Global air cargo traffic in 2022 was down 2.6% compared to 2019. Of the 20 airports on the ACI list, 18 saw cargo volume decline year over year in 2022.
“The decline can be attributed to the ongoing geopolitical tensions and disruptions to global trade and supply chains,” ACI says in a statement.
HKG and FedEx base hub Memphis International Airport (MEM) in Tennessee retained the top two slots in ACI’s 2022 top 20 cargo rankings. HKG handled 4.2 million metric tons in 2022, down 16.5% from 2021. MEM handled just over 4 million metric tons, down 9.8% year over year.
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) in Alaska and Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) swapped the third and fourth slots in 2022 compared to 2021. No. 3 ANC handled 3.5 million metric tons, including transit cargo, while PVG handled 3.1 million metric tons.
Airports 5-10 on the 2022 list are: United Parcel Service base hub Louisville Muhammad Ali International (SDF) in Kentucky; Seoul Incheon; Taipei’s Taiwan Taoyuan International (TPE); Miami International (MIA); Los Angeles International (LAX); and Tokyo Narita (NRT). Only MIA is a newcomer in the 2022 top 10 compared to 2021, rising from 12 to eight on the list. SDF was the only airport in the top 10 to have year over year cargo growth in 2022, though it was just 0.5% to 3.1 million metric tons.
Airports 11-20 on the ACI list are: Doha, Qatar; Chicago O’Hare; Frankfurt; Paris Charles de Gaulle; Guangzhou, China; Singapore Changi; Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG); Dubai; Leipzig, Germany; and Shenzhen, China.
Number 17 CVG, home to Amazon Air’s primary hub and DHL Express’ U.S. hub, is the only newcomer to the top 20 in 2022. It is also the only one of the airports on the list to experience significant year-over-year growth with cargo volume rising 16.8% to 1.8 million metric tons.
The ACI top 20 cargo airports handled 42% of the world’s cargo traffic in 2022.
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