DUBLIN, Ireland, July 28 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The pandemic years brought record revenues from air cargo. With supply limited due to the grounding of passenger planes, and demand up thanks to booming ecommerce, prices per cargo kilogram soared. According to TAC Yields figures from the Trade and Transport Group, in 2019 air cargo from Hong Kong to North America cost $3.80/kg while the price from Europe to North America was $2.10/kg. By 2022, these same services cost $9.00/kg and $4.50/kg respectively.
Unsurprisingly, this situation transformed the position of air cargo providers. Cargo revenue more than doubled from $100 billion in 2019 up to $210 in 2021 (these are the IATA’s figures) while passenger revenue plummeted from $607 billion annually down to $239 billion. Cargolux’s annual revenue grew from $2.2 billion to $5.1 billion over the course of the pandemic, and Silkway more than doubled its revenue and saw its margin transform from -10% to +30%. These huge gains, plus the long-term potential of ecommerce (which has led Airbus and Boeing to make optimistic forecasts for growth in air cargo), led many airlines to focus more on cargo.