Air Freight Activity — Million Tonne-Kilometres
Coverage: 1970–2023 · 262 approved observations · latest loaded period 2023
Historical trend
This indicator measures air freight activity in million tonne-kilometres for registered carriers. It is not airport cargo throughput, freight pricing or transit time. Observation periods are shown as published; country, port and airport totals remain separate statistical geographies.
Absolute published values, shown exactly as released — no rebasing, smoothing or interpolation. This view opens on the latest 10 years; use 5Y, 10Y or All history above to change the window. Default series: China, United States, United Kingdom, Germany and the United Arab Emirates — add or remove markets under Compare markets.
Published step change: China moved from 18,964.44 (2022) to 26,170.37 (2023), a 38.0% change. This is the value the official source publishes; DDP Atlas does not smooth, rescale or interpolate it. See the methodology note on published breaks.
Latest snapshot
Latest observation period: 2023 · million ton-km · 5 published locations
Citable facts
Historical data table
| Geography | Period | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 2023 | 26,170.372 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2023 | 12,766.529 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2023 | 13,566.159 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2023 | 4,413.895 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2023 | 42,762.859 | million ton-km |
| China | 2022 | 18,964.444 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2022 | 12,857.218 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2022 | 12,994.521 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2022 | 4,019.826 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2022 | 45,972.789 | million ton-km |
| China | 2021 | 20,961.212 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2021 | 11,533.049 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2021 | 15,300.729 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2021 | 4,097.09 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2021 | 46,004.646 | million ton-km |
| China | 2020 | 19,264.244 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2020 | 9,166.371 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2020 | 12,171.557 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2020 | 3,667.467 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2020 | 40,793.095 | million ton-km |
| China | 2019 | 25,394.588 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2019 | 7,763.619 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2019 | 14,765.6 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2019 | 5,851.19 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2019 | 42,498.263 | million ton-km |
| China | 2018 | 25,256.207 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2018 | 7,969.864 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2018 | 15,962.904 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2018 | 6,198.37 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2018 | 42,985.3 | million ton-km |
| China | 2017 | 23,323.615 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2017 | 7,901.652 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2017 | 16,616.245 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2017 | 5,915.641 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2017 | 41,591.552 | million ton-km |
| China | 2016 | 21,304.585 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2016 | 6,942.706 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2016 | 16,138.874 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2016 | 5,512.673 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2016 | 38,657.919 | million ton-km |
| China | 2015 | 19,805.63 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2015 | 6,986.405 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2015 | 15,962.692 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2015 | 5,423.173 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2015 | 37,866.225 | million ton-km |
| China | 2014 | 17,822.581 | million ton-km |
| Germany | 2014 | 7,184.146 | million ton-km |
| United Arab Emirates | 2014 | 15,527.193 | million ton-km |
| United Kingdom | 2014 | 5,974.825 | million ton-km |
| United States | 2014 | 38,225.196 | million ton-km |
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IS.AIR.GOOD.MT.K1 (Air transport, freight). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 21 October 2026. Source · CC BY 4.0
DDP Atlas retrieved this source on 21 Oct 2026. Values are reproduced without numeric transformation.
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