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Freight Intelligence

Historical shipping connectivity, port traffic and air cargo data for China-origin freight research. Every published value keeps its source, period, methodology and reusable citation trail.

Published air indicators
2
Approved observations
262
Historical coverage
1970–2023
Latest source retrieval
21 Oct 2026
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Periods are published observations for this indicator, newest first. Year limits apply together with this selection.

Showing 262 of 262 approved observations

World Bank, World Development Indicators

Air Freight Activity — Million Tonne-Kilometres

annual · million ton-km · country

Coverage: 1970–2023 · 262 approved observations · latest loaded period 2023

Historical trend

Air Freight Activity — Million Tonne-Kilometres historical observationsOfficially published values by observation period. Values are shown in million ton-km; see the accompanying table for exact observations.011,501.1623,002.3234,503.4846,004.651970197919881997200620152023China · 1974: 29.2 million ton-kmChina · 1975: 46.2 million ton-kmChina · 1976: 49 million ton-kmChina · 1977: 60 million ton-kmChina · 1978: 86 million ton-kmChina · 1979: 123 million ton-kmChina · 1980: 120.9 million ton-kmChina · 1981: 155.4 million ton-kmChina · 1982: 184.2 million ton-kmChina · 1983: 216 million ton-kmChina · 1984: 302 million ton-kmChina · 1985: 403 million ton-kmChina · 1986: 467.5 million ton-kmChina · 1987: 647.5 million ton-kmChina · 1988: 731.8 million ton-kmChina · 1989: 683.1 million ton-kmChina · 1990: 818.3 million ton-kmChina · 1991: 1,009.5 million ton-kmChina · 1992: 1,316 million ton-kmChina · 1993: 1,547 million ton-kmChina · 1994: 1,717.2 million ton-kmChina · 1995: 1,501 million ton-kmChina · 1996: 1,688.6 million ton-kmChina · 1997: 2,083.6 million ton-kmChina · 1998: 2,474.2 million ton-kmChina · 1999: 3,295.4 million ton-kmChina · 2000: 3,900.08 million ton-kmChina · 2001: 4,232.31 million ton-kmChina · 2002: 5,013.51 million ton-kmChina · 2003: 5,650.63 million ton-kmChina · 2004: 7,024.25 million ton-kmChina · 2005: 7,579.4 million ton-kmChina · 2006: 7,692.21 million ton-kmChina · 2007: 11,189.54 million ton-kmChina · 2008: 11,386.06 million ton-kmChina · 2009: 11,976.44 million ton-kmChina · 2010: 17,193.88 million ton-kmChina · 2011: 16,764.87 million ton-kmChina · 2012: 15,568.75 million ton-kmChina · 2013: 16,053.73 million ton-kmChina · 2014: 17,822.58 million ton-kmChina · 2015: 19,805.63 million ton-kmChina · 2016: 21,304.59 million ton-kmChina · 2017: 23,323.61 million ton-kmChina · 2018: 25,256.21 million ton-kmChina · 2019: 25,394.59 million ton-kmChina · 2020: 19,264.24 million ton-kmChina · 2021: 20,961.21 million ton-kmChina · 2022: 18,964.44 million ton-kmChina · 2023: 26,170.37 million ton-kmUnited States · 1970: 5,151.2 million ton-kmUnited States · 1971: 5,540.8 million ton-kmUnited States · 1972: 6,283 million ton-kmUnited States · 1973: 7,060.1 million ton-kmUnited States · 1974: 7,255.4 million ton-kmUnited States · 1975: 6,999.6 million ton-kmUnited States · 1976: 7,438.2 million ton-kmUnited States · 1977: 7,920.6 million ton-kmUnited States · 1978: 8,406.8 million ton-kmUnited States · 1979: 8,658.1 million ton-kmUnited States · 1980: 8,615.4 million ton-kmUnited States · 1981: 8,606.9 million ton-kmUnited States · 1982: 8,295.8 million ton-kmUnited States · 1983: 9,284.5 million ton-kmUnited States · 1984: 10,293.1 million ton-kmUnited States · 1985: 9,672.2 million ton-kmUnited States · 1986: 10,619 million ton-kmUnited States · 1987: 12,023.2 million ton-kmUnited States · 1988: 13,875.6 million ton-kmUnited States · 1989: 14,651 million ton-kmUnited States · 1990: 14,791.4 million ton-kmUnited States · 1991: 14,486.2 million ton-kmUnited States · 1992: 15,617.6 million ton-kmUnited States · 1993: 16,343 million ton-kmUnited States · 1994: 19,083.8 million ton-kmUnited States · 1995: 19,622.9 million ton-kmUnited States · 1996: 21,676.4 million ton-kmUnited States · 1997: 25,478.8 million ton-kmUnited States · 1998: 25,757.9 million ton-kmUnited States · 1999: 27,292.2 million ton-kmUnited States · 2000: 30,171.98 million ton-kmUnited States · 2001: 27,924.57 million ton-kmUnited States · 2002: 29,554.68 million ton-kmUnited States · 2003: 34,205.55 million ton-kmUnited States · 2004: 37,450.12 million ton-kmUnited States · 2005: 37,357.64 million ton-kmUnited States · 2006: 39,881.9 million ton-kmUnited States · 2007: 40,617.74 million ton-kmUnited States · 2008: 39,313.6 million ton-kmUnited States · 2009: 35,097.67 million ton-kmUnited States · 2010: 39,353.26 million ton-kmUnited States · 2011: 39,621.91 million ton-kmUnited States · 2012: 39,111.34 million ton-kmUnited States · 2013: 37,113.56 million ton-kmUnited States · 2014: 38,225.2 million ton-kmUnited States · 2015: 37,866.22 million ton-kmUnited States · 2016: 38,657.92 million ton-kmUnited States · 2017: 41,591.55 million ton-kmUnited States · 2018: 42,985.3 million ton-kmUnited States · 2019: 42,498.26 million ton-kmUnited States · 2020: 40,793.09 million ton-kmUnited States · 2021: 46,004.65 million ton-kmUnited States · 2022: 45,972.79 million ton-kmUnited States · 2023: 42,762.86 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1970: 516.9 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1971: 564.9 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1972: 714.1 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1973: 843.9 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1974: 847.3 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1975: 797.7 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1976: 866.4 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1977: 984.1 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1978: 1,153.2 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1979: 1,263.9 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1980: 1,428.4 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1981: 1,579 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1982: 1,511.4 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1983: 1,729.8 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1984: 2,193.4 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1985: 2,299.1 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1986: 2,547.3 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1987: 2,862.5 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1988: 3,134.3 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1989: 3,447.2 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1990: 3,825.4 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1991: 4,023.4 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1992: 4,639.2 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1993: 5,405 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1994: 6,405.2 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1995: 6,830.6 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1996: 7,618.1 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1997: 6,450.6 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1998: 4,663.5 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 1999: 4,925.2 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2000: 5,160.87 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2001: 4,548.55 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2002: 4,940.53 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2003: 5,159.7 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2004: 5,698.49 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2005: 5,998.43 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2006: 6,215.32 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2007: 6,154.45 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2008: 6,283.83 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2009: 6,615.13 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2010: 6,082.74 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2011: 6,280.25 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2012: 6,243.54 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2013: 6,031.57 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2014: 5,974.83 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2015: 5,423.17 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2016: 5,512.67 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2017: 5,915.64 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2018: 6,198.37 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2019: 5,851.19 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2020: 3,667.47 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2021: 4,097.09 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2022: 4,019.83 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom · 2023: 4,413.9 million ton-kmGermany · 1970: 484.5 million ton-kmGermany · 1971: 532.9 million ton-kmGermany · 1972: 656.6 million ton-kmGermany · 1973: 826.8 million ton-kmGermany · 1974: 941 million ton-kmGermany · 1975: 920.7 million ton-kmGermany · 1976: 1,040.5 million ton-kmGermany · 1977: 1,204.2 million ton-kmGermany · 1978: 1,344.8 million ton-kmGermany · 1979: 1,513.5 million ton-kmGermany · 1980: 1,506 million ton-kmGermany · 1981: 1,495.2 million ton-kmGermany · 1982: 1,592.1 million ton-kmGermany · 1983: 1,941 million ton-kmGermany · 1984: 2,235.5 million ton-kmGermany · 1985: 2,378.5 million ton-kmGermany · 1986: 2,826.9 million ton-kmGermany · 1987: 3,247.7 million ton-kmGermany · 1988: 3,470 million ton-kmGermany · 1989: 3,840.3 million ton-kmGermany · 1990: 3,994.2 million ton-kmGermany · 1991: 4,108.7 million ton-kmGermany · 1992: 4,287.5 million ton-kmGermany · 1993: 4,639.9 million ton-kmGermany · 1994: 5,373.3 million ton-kmGermany · 1995: 5,835.9 million ton-kmGermany · 1996: 6,036.3 million ton-kmGermany · 1997: 6,183.9 million ton-kmGermany · 1998: 6,233.8 million ton-kmGermany · 1999: 6,610.7 million ton-kmGermany · 2000: 7,127.71 million ton-kmGermany · 2001: 7,026.25 million ton-kmGermany · 2002: 7,195.8 million ton-kmGermany · 2003: 7,295.67 million ton-kmGermany · 2004: 8,065.6 million ton-kmGermany · 2005: 7,722.13 million ton-kmGermany · 2006: 8,133.99 million ton-kmGermany · 2007: 8,528.96 million ton-kmGermany · 2008: 8,352.88 million ton-kmGermany · 2009: 10,187.72 million ton-kmGermany · 2010: 7,487.48 million ton-kmGermany · 2011: 7,716.76 million ton-kmGermany · 2012: 7,236.98 million ton-kmGermany · 2013: 7,335.7 million ton-kmGermany · 2014: 7,184.15 million ton-kmGermany · 2015: 6,986.41 million ton-kmGermany · 2016: 6,942.71 million ton-kmGermany · 2017: 7,901.65 million ton-kmGermany · 2018: 7,969.86 million ton-kmGermany · 2019: 7,763.62 million ton-kmGermany · 2020: 9,166.37 million ton-kmGermany · 2021: 11,533.05 million ton-kmGermany · 2022: 12,857.22 million ton-kmGermany · 2023: 12,766.53 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1974: 2.2 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1975: 4 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1976: 6.8 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1977: 8.2 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1978: 9.6 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1979: 14 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1980: 26.2 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1981: 21.4 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1982: 21.6 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1983: 23.8 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1984: 30.7 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1985: 32.6 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1986: 48.6 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1987: 68.1 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1988: 96.2 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1989: 117.8 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1990: 145.1 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1991: 184.4 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1992: 267 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1993: 365.4 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1994: 465.9 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1995: 557.2 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1996: 651.3 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1997: 809.4 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1998: 902 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 1999: 1,129.7 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2000: 1,456.35 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2001: 1,631.16 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2002: 2,079.34 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2003: 2,772.74 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2004: 3,733.66 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2005: 4,641.93 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2006: 5,735.78 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2007: 6,538.02 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2008: 9,289.48 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2009: 8,959.6 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2010: 9,774.15 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2011: 10,434.85 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2012: 12,032.54 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2013: 14,082.25 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2014: 15,527.19 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2015: 15,962.69 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2016: 16,138.87 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2017: 16,616.24 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2018: 15,962.9 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2019: 14,765.6 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2020: 12,171.56 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2021: 15,300.73 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2022: 12,994.52 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates · 2023: 13,566.16 million ton-km
ChinaUnited StatesUnited KingdomGermanyUnited Arab Emirates

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.

Compare markets

Published step change: United Arab Emirates moved from 14 (1979) to 26.2 (1980), a 87.1% 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

Air Freight Activity — Million Tonne-Kilometres: latest snapshot, 2023Published values for 2023 in million ton-km. Bars start at zero; exact observations are in the table and CSV.United States: 42,762.86 million ton-kmUnited States42,762.86China: 26,170.37 million ton-kmChina26,170.37United Arab Emirates: 13,566.16 million ton-kmUnited Arab Emirates13,566.16Germany: 12,766.53 million ton-kmGermany12,766.53United Kingdom: 4,413.9 million ton-kmUnited Kingdom4,413.9

Citable facts

Historical data table

Air Freight Activity — Million Tonne-Kilometres: values and observation periods
GeographyPeriodValueUnit
China202326,170.372million ton-km
Germany202312,766.529million ton-km
United Arab Emirates202313,566.159million ton-km
United Kingdom20234,413.895million ton-km
United States202342,762.859million ton-km
China202218,964.444million ton-km
Germany202212,857.218million ton-km
United Arab Emirates202212,994.521million ton-km
United Kingdom20224,019.826million ton-km
United States202245,972.789million ton-km
China202120,961.212million ton-km
Germany202111,533.049million ton-km
United Arab Emirates202115,300.729million ton-km
United Kingdom20214,097.09million ton-km
United States202146,004.646million ton-km
China202019,264.244million ton-km
Germany20209,166.371million ton-km
United Arab Emirates202012,171.557million ton-km
United Kingdom20203,667.467million ton-km
United States202040,793.095million ton-km
China201925,394.588million ton-km
Germany20197,763.619million ton-km
United Arab Emirates201914,765.6million ton-km
United Kingdom20195,851.19million ton-km
United States201942,498.263million ton-km
China201825,256.207million ton-km
Germany20187,969.864million ton-km
United Arab Emirates201815,962.904million ton-km
United Kingdom20186,198.37million ton-km
United States201842,985.3million ton-km
China201723,323.615million ton-km
Germany20177,901.652million ton-km
United Arab Emirates201716,616.245million ton-km
United Kingdom20175,915.641million ton-km
United States201741,591.552million ton-km
China201621,304.585million ton-km
Germany20166,942.706million ton-km
United Arab Emirates201616,138.874million ton-km
United Kingdom20165,512.673million ton-km
United States201638,657.919million ton-km
China201519,805.63million ton-km
Germany20156,986.405million ton-km
United Arab Emirates201515,962.692million ton-km
United Kingdom20155,423.173million ton-km
United States201537,866.225million ton-km
China201417,822.581million ton-km
Germany20147,184.146million ton-km
United Arab Emirates201415,527.193million ton-km
United Kingdom20145,974.825million ton-km
United States201438,225.196million ton-km

Showing the latest 50 of 262 filtered observations. The CSV export below contains every filtered row.

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.

Download filtered CSV →

Source periods and units remain as published. Country totals, individual ports and airports are separate statistical geographies. Missing observations are not interpolated. Use the original source definitions when comparing indicators.

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