Air cargo: 2025 ranking of the world's main airports

The world’s airports handled more than 129 million tonnes of cargo in 2025, representing a year-on-year growth of 2.9% and growth of 8.8% compared to 2019.

1/ The global Top 20

Growth in air cargo volumes handled by the world’s airports slowed in 2025, but activity continued to increase. According to preliminary results published by Airports' Council International (ACI), 128.9 million tonnes were handled in 2025, representing an increase of 2.9%, after the +8.4% recorded in 2024.

According to the ACI, growth remains strongly driven by the cross-border e-commerce sector. The airport lobby notes that in 2025, the activity also benefited from an "adjustment of supply chains". In a highly disrupted environment, particularly due to the introduction of additional tariffs in the United States at very short notice, shippers front loaded orders and used the flexibility and speed of air cargo to adapt, especially in the first half of the year.

Content source : Airports’ Council International (ACI), airport authorities.

The world's top 20 airports generated combined traffic of approximately 55.4 million tonnes (Mt) in 2025, an increase of 1.3% compared to the previous year. They represent 43% of the global volume.

• As in 2024, the top 20 includes 8 platforms in Asia (including 4 in China), 7 in the United States, 3 in the Middle East (including Istanbul for its role as a hub, although it is officially linked to Europe by the ACI) and 2 in Europe.
• In the Top 5, Hong Kong and Shanghai consolidate their position by passing the threshold of 5 and 4 million tonnes respectively. In contrast, Memphis, impacted by a decline in FedEx activity, loses the 3rd place on the podium to Anchorage. Louisville, a UPS hub, stands out for the best progression in the Top 5.
• Taipei enters the Top 10 thanks to double-digit growth. Taiwan's airport benefits from the country's strong growth in exports and imports, which have increased by 34.9% and 22.6% respectively in 2025. Taiwan is notably a major manufacturing hub for semiconductors, the demand for which is exploding with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. Taipei's entry into the Top 10 comes at the expense of Los Angeles.
• In the bottom half of the Top 20, Shenzhen recorded the strongest progress and gained 3 places.

2/ European Top 10

Data source: airport authorities.

• The top 10 European airports handled 13.4 million tonnes of cargo in 2025, an increase of 2.0%.
• The Top 5 stands out with rather modest growth, reflecting the sluggishness of demand in Europe. Amsterdam is even experiencing a drop in traffic.
• Paris and Frankfurt remain neck and neck, with the latter having the edge. Orly airport has almost recovered the traffic lost in 2024, practically returning to its 2023 levels (73,545 tonnes).
• Liège and Madrid stand out for their growth rates that are significantly higher than the European average. Liège benefited from the strong growth in flows generated by major Chinese e-commerce platforms, while Madrid benefited from the healthy Spanish economy, which is one of the most dynamic in the European Union. Barcelona also benefited from this, with a growth of 10.5% which allowed it to cross the 200,000-tonne milestone.

3/ US Top 10

Content source : Airports’ Council International, airport authorities.

• In 2025, the 10 largest airports in the United States handled 20 million tonnes of air cargo, representing a 2.5% decrease compared to the previous year. Overall, airports have suffered from the Trump administration's new trade policy.
• Excluding Anchorage, which is mainly used for technical stops, Memphis and Louisville airports, which are FedEx and UPS hubs respectively, retain the top two spots in the Top 10. However, Memphis continues to pay the price for the restructuring of FedEx's air network, just like Indianapolis. Cincinnati, a hub for Amazon and DHL in the United States, is also in decline, for the 2nd consecutive year.
• Miami consolidates its 3rd place, served by growth of 5.1% which means it is now hot on the heels of Memphis.

4/ Top 10 Asia

Content source : Airports’ Council International, airport authorities.

• The top 10 Asian airports had cumulative traffic of 26.3 million tonnes, up 5.3% compared to 2024.
• Taipei boasts one of the best growth rates and thus gains a place in the ranking, benefiting from the semiconductor boom of which Taiwan is one of the world's leading manufacturers.
• The Top 10 includes 5 Chinese platforms, as in 2024. While Guangzhou has experienced moderate growth, Shenzhen and Beijing are registering growth above the average of the Asian Top 10.
• Bangkok holds the record for growth in the Top 10, benefiting in particular from the development of intra-Asian flows.
• Half of the Top 10 are made up of Chinese platforms, starting with the world's number 1 Hong Kong, which experienced very strong growth in 2025, as did its compatriot in the Top 5, Guangzhou.

Two other Chinese airports, currently outside the Top 10, experienced spectacular growth in 2025, allowing them to exceed one million tonnes handled.

• Established in 2022 and dedicated to cargo operations, Ezhou Huahu Airport now occupies the 5th ranked place in China, with a total of 1,145,751 tonnes of cargo in 2025 (+32.4%). This platform currently serves 120 destinations, including around fifty internationally, and it is likely that it will quickly join the Asian Top 10. It benefits from the establishment of a pilot customs zone dedicated to cross-border e-commerce, located at the airport. On the other hand, several state-of-the-art manufacturing plants are under construction and companies in the biomedical sector are also setting up their logistics hubs there.
• Zhengzhou/Xinzhen Airport, meanwhile, experienced a growth of 25.2% in 2025, totalling 1,033,397 tonnes handled. The cross-border e-commerce sector, in particular, has seen growth of almost 100% and represents half of the export volumes. Obeying the strategy defined by the Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the People's Government of Henan Province, the China Henan Aviation Group wants to further intensify its efforts to develop the "Air Silk Road", by replicating the "dual hub" concept that prevailed during the launch of the Zhengzhou-Luxembourg link in 2017. To date, 36 airlines operate out of Zhengzhou, 8 of which are among the world’s top 10 biggest carriers of cargo. Last year, Cargolux lost its place as the number one operator at the platform to Hongyuan Longhao Airlines, a Chinese all-cargo company based at the Zhengzhou airport. This platform is also on its way to taking one of the top 10 spots in the Asian rankings.