WFS wins Emirates SkyCargo business at Frankfurt

Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has won a five-year contract with Emirates SkyCargo to handle its freight operations at Germany's Frankfurt Airport. WFS is a SATS company and the deal adds to SATS's and WFS's longstanding business relationship with Emirates, with the group now providing gateway services at 21 stations across the Dubai-based airline's global network. Frankfurt Airport is one of Europe's busiest cargo gateways, and it also serves as one of Emirates' most important hubs on the continent. The carrier's freight division offers a weekly cargo capacity of over 1,400 tonnes through the airport. Robert Fordree, Emirates SkyCargo's senior vice president of operations worldwide, remarked: "With six scheduled freighters and 21 passenger flights per week, Frankfurt is an anchor of our European network. "As one of the world's most important financial hubs, we move significant volume in and out the market, including specialist products such as pharmaceuticals, automobiles and machinery. "By expanding our global partnership with WFS to Frankfurt, we will enhance our existing operations and ensure we can deliver goods quickly, reliably and efficiently, strengthening trade links between Germany's vibrant business community and the wider world." John Batten, chief executive of gateway services, Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia (EMEAA) at WFS, advised: "At Frankfurt Airport, our team is focused on implementing the operational excellence and specialised handling capabilities that Emirates requires. "Our significant investment in pharmaceutical handling capabilities at Frankfurt, combined with our proven expertise in managing time-sensitive cargo, positions us to deliver the efficient, secure and reliable services that Emirates and their customers expect at this important European hub." More good news for WFS was announced earlier this month; (April). Malaysia Airlines' cargo arm, MASkargo resumed its cargo handling partnership with WFS in Paris to support the airline's new daily flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport. The two companies previously partnered in the French capital until Malaysia Airlines withdrew from the route in January 2016. Cargo hub Frankfurt saw its total cargo throughput (including both airfreight and air mail) rise by 3.2 percent year-on-year to reach 184,679 tonnes in March 2025. However, over the course of the first quarter of this year, Fraport handled 485,070 tonnes of cargo, down by 0.3 percent on the same three months of 2024. The gateway's air cargo volumes rose by 6.2% year on year in 2024 to 2.1m tonnes. However, volumes were still 3.7% down on pre-Covid 2019 levels.

ACI ranks busiest air cargo gateways in 2024

Airports Council International (ACI) World, the airport trade association, has today (April 14) provided a first look at the 2024 rankings of the world's busiest airports. This initial data may be modified slightly when the full rankings are confirmed in July 2025, which will be based on detailed information from over 2,700 airports around the world. ACI World director general Justin Erbacci remarked: "Amid global challenges, the resilience of the world's busiest airports shines. These hubs are vital arteries of trade, commerce and connectivity." Air cargo volumes are estimated to have increased by 8.4% year on year in 2024 (and be up by 3.9% versus pre-Covid 2019), to over 124m tonnes. The increase in cargo volumes handled globally can be attributed in the main to strong e-commerce traffic, maritime shipping disruptions and declines in jet fuel prices, ACI World opined. Air cargo volumes handled at the world's top 10 airfreight gateways - which taken together account for nearly 26% (32.3m tonnes) of global volumes handled in 2024 - rose by 9.3% year on year (with a gain of 9.5% vis-à-vis their 2019 results). Air cargo traffic is thus now even more concentrated amongst the world's major airfreight gateways. Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) retained its top place, followed by Shanghai Pudong International Airport and then express services hub Memphis International Airport. At 16.9%, Guangzhou in China was the airport to achieve the highest rate of year on year growth, at 16.9%. Louisville in the US enjoyed the second-highest rate of year on year growth, at 15.6%. HKIA was third with 14.1%. Memphis was the only top 10 gateway to see its cargo volumes fall compered to 2023, declining by 3.3%. HKIA holds on to the number one spot HKIA retained its top billing in the 2024 air freight rankings - and been named the busiest cargo airport in the world for the 14th time since 2010. The airport handled more than 4.9 million tonnes of cargo over the course of the year. Vivian Cheung, chief executive of operator Airport Authority Hong Kong, said: "This is a great demonstration of our commitment in enhancing our cargo services by striving for innovation and seizing opportunities. "Alongside the commissioning of the Three-runway System, we are also seeing new cargo handling facilities established at the airport. "We will continue to work with the air cargo community to leverage the unique advantages at HKIA, strengthen our resilience amid the economic uncertainties and challenges, and reinforce HKIA as the world's leading aviation hub.'" The airport has a target to serve 120m passengers and handle 10m tonnes of cargo annually within a decade or so.

Red Sea return won't impact IATA's air cargo demand forecast

IATA does not expect to lower its air cargo demand forecast on account of ocean shipping's return to the Red Sea. The trade body confirmed in its Sustainability and Economic Outlook during the Plenary Session that it expected a 6% growth in air cargo volumes in 2025, following it's December projection of a 5.8 rise. Speaking to Air Cargo News at the IATA World Cargo Symposium (WCS), IATA director general Willie Walsh said that the trade body believes the air cargo industry can well withstand the return of ocean shipping to the Red Sea. Reflecting on the impact on air cargo, Walsh said: "I don't think it will be significant." This is because of the core demand from time-sensitive markets that airfreight serves. "What we tend to transport by air is critical in terms of time or critical in terms of value. And those goods tend to stick with air rather than move to transport by ship, so just-in-time products will invariably move by air." IATA predicted in December that air cargo volumes, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTK), would rise by 5.8% year on year to reach 72.5m tonnes in 2025, supported by e-commerce and Red Sea-related demand. And following the beginning of the Red Sea crisis and the rerouting of ships round the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, a number of companies have reported additional airfreight or sea-air demand from shippers that would traditionally use ocean shipping services. But when the recent ceasfire was announced there was debate in the industry about how quickly ships would return to the Red Sea and whether airfreight would suffer as a result of shippers switching back to their normal transport mode. Any shift from air back to sea "is very marginal", according to Walsh. In fact, volumes are less significant than yields in the scenario that disrupted oceanfreight goods shifts to airfreight because it has become time critical. "What we typically see is rather than the volumes, (sea to air) drives the yields because pricing will tend to go up because the supply of options for moving cargo gets reduced when you get this disruption by sea." E-commerce - the other driver of air cargo growth mentioned by IATA in December - is also stable because the immediacy that consumers have come to expect fits well with airfreight. The major risk here is with US de minimis changes, reflected Walsh. "There's been a significant increase in e-commerce trade. And I don't think that's going to be disrupted too much. The issue with the US de minimis removal or adjustment - that clearly may have an impact because of the amount of goods that get shipped from China to the US that are not below the de minimis regulation." As to the potential impact of tariffs and other geopolitical issues on volumes, he says "it's impossible to know", but said a surge in shipments would be more likely than a longer term change in volumes. "What we have seen in air cargo before is a spike when people announce tariffs then you get some good being shipped in advance of the tariff coming into effect - as you would expect. And it's been in both directions, not just ex China. For example, we have seen a spike in cosmetics shipments from the US to China. "We've not really seen that happen before. I think when you look through it all it's not going to represent a big change in the overall volume or value of goods being shipped. It's just timing of the shipping and some people will accelerate the timing to try and avoid the tariff impact. Further reiterating air cargo's prospects, Walsh highlighted that between 2010 and 2019, a period of undisturbed growth without any issues, cargo on average represented 13% of the industry's revenues. "This year we're forecasting cargo revenue at 15.6%. So it's ahead of the long term average. "It shows you that it's a very important part of the industry. Particularly when you consider that net margins are only 3.7%." He added: "It's clearly lower than what it was in 2022 when it peaked, but that was more of a reflection of the fact that passenger revenues had collapsed." The next air cargo demand forecast will be issued in the IATA AGM at the beginning of June.