Top 20 busiest cargo airports in 2019

If you’re in the moving industry and working for a large company, you must’ve been following trends in airplane cargo shipping. Each year we are able to analyze the data that the Airport Council International provides us with. Among other things that are on their agenda, they also collect the data on the cargo that airports handle. With the information they collected, they were able to rank airports according to the tonnage of cargo that they handled the past year.

Therefore, if you are in the moving industry, you will probably be interested to know which were the top 20 busiest cargo airports in 2019. After all, you may end up drawing your own conclusions and coming up with an idea for the Board of your company. With the combination of knowledge and passion for numbers, you may even open some new doors for the firm you are working for.

The criteria used in creating the list of the top 20 busiest cargo airports in 2019

Before we go any further with presenting you the preliminary list of the top 20 busiest cargo airports in 2019, we need to take a look at the criteria that Airport Council International used for ranking.

The data that they focused on were the tonnes of cargo that an airport handled in the past year. According to this information, they created the list of top 20 busiest cargo airports in 2019 we are going to take a closer look at in a few moments.

However, for now, let’s focus on one important bit of information that we would like to stress. We get to thank CargoFacts.com for pointing out such an obvious clue.

Airport sizes

There are certain airports on this list that rank as high as they rank. However, it is important to point out the following. There are some airports on the list that have a neighboring airport very close by. As a matter of fact, the airport of Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) are two airports that are located only miles apart. Furthermore, not only are they close by, they are also connected by an inter-airport highway. Thanks to this highway, airline companies can easily maneuver their goods from one airport to the other. This is great news if you are moving your items overseas.

Now, these two airports are ranked as two different airports. However, take a thorough look at them. You will realize that they are, in fact, just one large airport with terminals that are slightly further away from each other than what we are used to. The point is, had they been ranked together, they might have been ranked higher on the list of the top 20 busiest cargo airports in 2019.

The list of the top 20 busiest cargo airports in 2019

Here is the list of the top 20 busiest cargo airports in 2019.

The table that you are going to see contains information on how many metric tonnes each of the top 20 cargo airports handled in the past year. What is even more interesting to pay attention to is the percentage change when compared to the year 2016. If you compared data with the mentioned year, you would notice that the top 20 airports handled 7,9% freight more in 2019 than in 2016. This leads us to a conclusion that, even though there were different political influences on the world stage that could have led to a different result, the economy is not giving in. This is particularly good for the moving industry and Verified Movers. Stable economy means more jobs and more migration worldwide.

Why these 20 airports are the busiest cargo airports at a global level

Furthermore, it is important to mention that these 20 airports handle 43% of all cargo freight on a yearly basis. If we were to come up with a reason why these 20 airports in particular are the top cargo airports, we would draw three main conclusions:

1. Firstly, geography plays an enormous part in making them as busy as they are. All of them represent a kind of a hub for the biggest airliners in the world. Obviously, geography is not the sole reason for their success.
2. Secondly, an important part plays the pricing of the services that the airports offer. Airports are very competitive. They try to lure companies to come to them and use them as their bases. A good geographical position without competitive pricing will not do enough. Middle-Eastern countries are a good example of this.
3. Lastly, it is important to notice the markets in which they are operating.
   1. For example, China is the world’s largest economy today and the main producer of goods. While it exports a lot of its goods, a large portion stays within the country. Therefore, it also handles a lot of internal transport of goods.
   2. On the other side of the spectrum, we can find some o the largest consumer economies, such as the USA. A lot of items from all over the world are shipped to the US and North America in general. Companies need a place where they can start the redistribution of their goods. This is the role of Memphis airport, for example.

What can we expect in the future?

Air traffic is the safest mode of transport in the world today. Not only is it the safest, but it is also the fastest. There are other means of transport that are cheaper and more popular. Shipping by sea occupies the first place in that field. Still, the world is becoming more competitive every day. Therefore, we can probably expect the load handled by aircraft on a global level to rise in the coming years. The only question remaining is to try and figure out whether there are going to be any changes in the segment of the busiest airports. There have not been many compared to the top 20 busiest cargo airports in 2019.