ACI: Memphis Airport surpasses Hong Kong in 2020 cargo throughput

This story has been updated to reflect that ACI has not yet released its official airport ranking and that all figures are preliminary. FedEx’s Memphis International Airport (MEM) hub has dethroned Hong Kong International (HKG), the longtime largest cargo airport, in terms of 2020 cargo throughput, thanks to an increase in e-commerce traffic. [caption id="attachment_94914" align="alignright" width="450"] Photo courtesy of Hong Kong International Airport.[/caption] MEM’s cargo handle in 2020 increased to 4.61 million tonnes in 2020, according to Janik Gagne, senior director of economic analysis and statistical services at Airports Council International (ACI), during a webinar today on the importance of cargo to airports during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 preliminary figures represent a 6.7% increase in throughput from 2019 at MEM, based on Air Cargo World 's most recent ranking of the top 50 cargo airports. ACI is a nonprofit global trade representative of the world’s airport authorities. “There was obviously an increase in online retail,” said Gagne during the webinar. “But there was also a significant decrease because of the reduction of the economic activity of what I call ‘normal cargo volume’ — the iPhone, machine parts or auto parts, and all the things that are normally transported by air cargo.” The changes in commodity types moving by airfreight were supportive of express hubs like MEM and UPS’ Louisville (SDF) hub, Gagne said, while hubs that typically see substantial cargo volumes moving in the bellies of passenger aircraft, like HKG, are at a disadvantage while passenger traffic remains low. ACI’s current forecast does not expect international passenger traffic to recover to 2019 levels until 2024. FedEx has not yet released its full 2020 calendar year results, but in its FY2021 Q2 earnings report through Nov. 30, the express operator reported that average daily package volumes in its Express unit increased by 8% for the six months ended Nov. 30. FedEx also attributed the strong 2020 package volumes to an increase in e-commerce that it projected will continue in the years ahead. “E-commerce package volumes are expected to more than triple to 111 million packages per day by 2026, up from 35 million in 2019,” said Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Brie Carere during FedEx’s most recent earnings call. HKG, meanwhile, faced headwinds even before the pandemic began due to political unrest in Hong Kong and the negative impact of the trade war between the U.S. and China on Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Cargo. The carrier, which implemented mass cuts to passenger capacity, reported its worst-ever financial results for a loss of 21.6 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$2.8 billion) in its 2020 earnings report released today . The outlook for HKG to rebound and reclaim the top spot in 2021’s rankings is also unlikely. Cathay Pacific forecasts a challenging 2021 ahead, stating, “We expect to operate at well below a quarter of pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity in the first half of 2021 with improvement in the second half of the year.” Even with Cathay’s freighter fleet operating at full capacity, the loss of belly space on passenger aircraft caused a 35.5% year-over-year drop in available capacity in 2020.

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