According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), global air cargo demand in 2025 is projected to increase by 3.4% compared to 2024, with international traffic growing by 4.2%. Meanwhile, cargo revenue declined by 1.5%, the smallest drop in three years, remaining 37.2% above 2019 levels.
Asia-Pacific airlines demonstrated the strongest growth, with demand up 8.4% and capacity up 7.4%. African carriers also saw growth of 6%, while Europe and Latin America saw moderate growth of 2.9% and 2.3%. Middle Eastern carriers increased demand by just 0.3%, and North America was the only region to see a decline, down 1.3%.
IATA notes a shift in global cargo flows from the Asia-North America route to Asia-Europe due to tariff pressure and the abolition of the de minimis exception in the US. Strong growth was also observed on intra-Asia routes and along the Middle East-Asia corridor. In 2025, the Asia-Pacific region would account for 35.9% of global cargo traffic, North America 24.5%, Europe 21.4%, the Middle East 13.2%, Latin America and the Caribbean 2.9%, and Africa 2.1%.