Hong Kong named world's busiest cargo airport

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) retained its position in 2024 as the world’s busiest cargo airport. Fresh from expanding and adding a third runway, it handled 4.9m metric tonnes of freight, a 3.3% year-on-year increase, according to provisional figures released on Monday by Airports Council International (ACI). It is the thirteenth time since 2010 that HKIA has been named the world's busiest cargo airport, slipping in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. HKIA is the first airport in the world to attain the full suite of Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) certifications from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for handling special air cargo, including pharmaceuticals, perishables, live animals and lithium batteries. Since 2017, HKIA has been recognised by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as a Partner Airport of the IATA’s Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV). In cargo handling, Shanghai jumped one spot to second while Memphis slipped to third. Over the first two months of 2025, cargo throughput in HKIA rose by 2.2% to 718,000 tonnes, with transshipments recording the highest year-on-year increase of 9.6%.<br/>