World Air Cargo Growth Detail
International air freight will drive overall world air cargo growth through 2029.
Over the next 20 years, world air cargo traffic will grow 5.9% per year. Air freight RTK growth, including express traffic, will average 6.0% annually. Airmail traffic will grow much more slowly, averaging only 1.4% growth annually through 2029. It should be noted that because of the dramatic 2009 drop, the historic 10-year world air cargo growth rate fell from 3.9% during the 1997-to-2007 period to only 1.9% during the 1999-to-2009 period. Overall, world air cargo traffic will increase from 166.8 billion RTKs in 2009 (down from its 2007 record of 191.4 billion) to more than 526.5 billion RTKs in 2029.
Asia's air cargo markets will continue to lead the world air cargo industry in average annual growth rates, with domestic China and intra-Asia markets expanding 9.2% and 7.9% per year, respectively. Markets linking Latin America with North America and Latin America with Europe, as well as markets between the Middle East and Europe, will grow at approximately the world average growth rate. The more mature North America and Europe markets reflect slower and thus lower-than-average traffic growth rates.