Airports Council International (ACI) has released its latest report detailing top airports for passengers, cargo and aircraft movements in 2018.
The report found that, in total, the world’s airports accommodated 8.8 billion passengers, 122.7 million metric tonnes of cargo, and 99.9 million aircraft movements.
“The World Airport Traffic Report shows that, even as smaller airports around the world continue to make strong gains, the largest hub airports continue to grow,” ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said.
“There were 16 airports handling more than 40 million passengers per annum in 2008 and there are now 54.”
Most of the world’s fastest-growing airports are located in emerging markets, a significant proportion of them being in the Asia-Pacific region. As many as 12 of the fastest-growing top 30 airports in 2018 are located in either China or India.
“Collectively, these airports achieved a year-over-year passenger traffic growth of +5.1% in 2018 which is significant considering a large proportion of these airports are in the mature and capacity constrained markets of North America and Europe.”
Considering that, here are the top 5 fastest growing airports which handle the most cargo (more than 250,000 metric tonnes) in 2018.
Philadelphia International Airport
2018 was a good year for United States’ Philadelphia Airport. The Airport recorded a 20% growth in traffic after it handed 503,766 metric tons of air cargo.
Xi’An International Airport
In 2018, China’s Xi’An Airport handled 312,639 metric tons of air cargo making it the 4th fastest growing airport in the World.
The airport recorded a growth of 20.3% from what was reported in 2017.
Liege International Airport
Belgium’s Liege Airport is currently the 3rd fastest growing airport in the World.
In 2018, the airport handled a whopping 871,596 metric tons of air cargo, an impressive 21.6 growth.
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA)
Kenya’s JKIA is the 2nd fastest growing airport in the World in terms of cargo after it handled over 342,000 metric tons of air cargo in 2018, a 25% growth from what was reported in 2017.
Rockford International Airport
In 2018, Rockford Airport, an expansive air cargo hub in the United States, emerged as the undisputed king of cargo after its traffic grew by more than 50%.
Rockford handled 306,332 metric tons of air cargo in 2018. Positioning itself as an e-commerce freight hub for online retail giant Amazon, the airport’s traffic grew +56.6% in 2018.
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