Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) regained its title as the world's busiest cargo airport in 2021, according to data released by the Airports Council International (ACI) World, after it dropped to second the year prior due to the wide-ranging impacts of Covid-19.

ACI World said air cargo was "less impacted" by COVID-19 as volumes returned to pre-pandemic levels. 

The global trade representative of the world's airport authorities said HKG reclaimed the crown as the world's busiest air cargo hub in 2021 after Memphis International Airport (MEM) dislodged the airport as number one in 2020.

Memphis, home to FedEx, took the second spot.

"Air cargo, which was less impacted by COVID-19, had its volumes increase by close to 15% year-over-year (+3.5% versus 2019), to an estimated record 124 million metric tonnes in 2021," ACI World said.

It noted that air cargo volumes in the top 10 airports — which represents around 25% (31.5 million metric tonnes) of the global volumes in 2021  — grew by 12.1% year-over-year and 15% from the level seen in 2019.

It said the gain can be attributed to the continued increase in demand for online consumer goods and pharmaceutical products.

"Hong Kong International Airport (HKG, 5.0 million metric tonnes, +12.5%) gained back the top rank and Memphis International Airport (MEM, 4.5 million metric tonnes, -2.9%) went back to the second position, followed by Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG, 4.0 million metric tonnes, +8.0%) in third," ACI said.

Among the busiest cargo hubs in Asia, Anchorage maintained its 4th spot, while Incheon Airport (INC) rose to 5th from 6th in 2020.

Louisville, the primary hub of UPS Airlines dropped to the 6th spot — trading places with Incheon, Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) in Taipei maintained its 7th spot, along with Los Angeles which also kept its 8th spot. 

Completing the top 10 list of the world's busiest cargo hubs is Narita International Airport (NRT) in Tokyo at 9th place — from 11th in 2020, as Doha dropped to the 10th spot from being in the top 9 the year prior.

ACI said Hong Kong also maintained its top spot in terms of international freight metric tonnes (4.98 million metric tonnes) followed by South Korea's INC (3.27 million metric tonnes)— which dislodged Shanghai (3.24 million metric tonnes) for the number two spot.

Taipei kept the 4th spot, followed by Tokyo, Doha, Anchorage, Dubai, Frankfurt, and Miami.

ACI World also estimates that there were over 69 million global aircraft movements in 2021, representing a gain of more than 12% from 2020.

It said the top 10 airports represent close to 8% of global traffic (5.3 million movements) and experienced a gain of 33.9% year-over-year, still representing a drop of 16.1% vis-à-vis 2019.

It noted that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) topped the list, followed by Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).

"All top 10 airports for aircraft movements are in the United States," ACI World added.

Airport passenger rankings

In terms of global passenger traffic, ACI World's preliminary world airport traffic rankings — showed "encouraging signs of traffic recovery" noting that many previous busiest airports re-join top ranks.

It said global passenger traffic at the world’s top 10 busiest airports rose by almost 25% or close to 4.5 billion passengers compared to 2020, but a drop of more than 50% from the pre-pandemic level in 2019.

"Passenger traffic at the top 10 busiest airports, representing collectively almost 10% of global traffic (463 million passengers), witnessed a gain of 51.8% from 2020, or a drop of 29.1% vis-à-vis their 2019 results," ACI added.

ACI said Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is back at the top of the 2021 rankings, followed by DFW, and Denver International Airport (DEN).

Meanwhile, after reaching the top rank in 2020, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) slid to the eighth position in 2021.

ACI World said eight of the top 10 airports for passenger traffic are in the United States with the two remaining in China.

"The ACI World passenger traffic rankings tell the story of an encouraging trend of recovery, with most of the recurrent busiest airports pre-COVID-19 back at the top," said ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira.

"Although we are cautious that recovery could face multiple headwinds, the momentum created by reopening plans by countries could lead to an uptick in travel in the second half of 2022."

2022 challenges for Hong Kong

For this year, however, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Hong Kong is "effectively off the map"  as an international aviation gateway as the city continues to pursue tough Covid restrictions including flight curbs and lengthy quarantines not just for passengers but also for aircrew.