World’s 50 largest air cargo carriers in 2014: FedEx leading the way
15 / 10 / 2015
Federal Express was the world’s busiest cargo airline in 2014, beating Emirates into second place and United Parcel Service into third (scroll down for top 50).
IATA’s annual World Air Transport Statistics report, which covers individual airlines as opposed to groups, revealed that FedEx was the busiest airline in 2014, with volumes of just over 16bn scheduled freight tonne km (FTK).
FedEx saw its volumes led by domestic traffic, which contributed more than half of its total, while for third placed UPS, the split between international and domestic was even.
Dubai-headquartered firm Emirates, which was the top non-integrator, managed to finish in second position with 11.2bn FTK.
The leading Asia-based airline was fourth placed Cathay Pacific which recorded traffic of 9.5bn FTK, while the top European player was Lufthansa which finished in sixth place with 7bn FTK.
Delta was the top North American airline, putting aside the integrators and subsidiaries, as it finished just ahead of United in 23rd position with traffic of 3.1bn FTK.
Leading in South America was Lan, which came in at position 25 with 3.1bn FTK, Africa was headed by South African Airways and Australasia was led by Qantas.
The list was led by Asian-based players, which occupied 17 of the top 50 places. The 65.7bn FTK carried by these 17 airlines accounted for 36.6% of total traffic handled by the leading 50 players.
North American-based carriers were next in terms of traffic with 41.3bn FTK, although the region only accounted for eight of the leading 50 as its figures were boosted by the presence of two integrators: top placed FedEx and third placed UPS.
European carriers were next with 40.5bn FTK thanks to contributions by 15 carriers. The list also revealed the dominance of the leading players, with the top 10 carriers accounting for 47.7% of the total traffic.
IATA also released tonnage figures, which showed FedEx as the leading carrier. However, in this table Emirates was beaten into third place by UPS.
Source: IATA
Notes: (1) IATA Estimate (2) US DOT (3) Additional notes regarding coverage; see IATA WATS report
Source: IATA
Notes: (1) IATA Estimate (2) US DOT (3) Additional notes regarding coverage; see IATA WATS report
