Airports Council International (ACI) World released its final 2025 airport traffic rankings on July 15, 2026. Global air cargo volumes exceeded 131 million metric tonnes in 2025, up 3.3% from 2024 and 7.4% above 2019 levels. Cargo traffic is far more concentrated than passenger traffic. The world’s 20 busiest cargo airports handled 53.1 million metric tonnes, roughly 41% of all air cargo moved worldwide.

The five busiest airports alone handled more than 19.5 million metric tonnes, nearly 15% of the global total. Two are in China, and three are in the United States. Louisville and Miami posted the strongest growth in the top five, both up more than 13%. The largest shift came just outside the top five: Memphis dropped from third to sixth after FedEx lost the US Postal Service air cargo contract in late 2024, with volumes falling 20.9%, the sharpest decline among the top 20 cargo airports.

5

Miami International Airport

3,128,165 Tonnes

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Miami International Airport (MIA) handled 3,128,165 metric tonnes of cargo in 2025, up more than 13%. The airport reports its own figures in US tons, which put 2025 volume at nearly 3.5 million tons, up 13.6% year-on-year and the sixth consecutive annual record. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said: “For the sixth consecutive year, MIA has set a new cargo record.” MIA markets itself as the Gateway of the Americas and is served by more than 35 all-cargo carriers.

Latin America defines MIA’s cargo profile. Imports are dominated by perishables flown in from South and Central America, and the airport handles roughly 70% of all US air imports of perishables, led by flowers, fruit, and seafood. Flowers are its largest import commodity by weight, valued at more than $1.6 billion annually, and MIA handles approximately 90% of all US flower imports by air. US Customs and Border Protection processed approximately 940 million stems at MIA for Valentine’s Day 2025 alone. Colombia and Ecuador are the top two flower sources to the United States, and MIA has the most extensive US air links to both. Avianca Cargo, the leading carrier for Colombian flowers to the United States, uses Miami as its primary gateway.

By different measures, MIA ranks even higher. According to the airport, ACI’s 2025 rankings for freight alone placed MIA as the busiest airport in the United States and third in the world. Beyond perishables, MIA handles pharmaceuticals, e-commerce shipments, and high-tech goods, and UPS operates its regional air hub for Latin America and the Caribbean at the airport. Cargo also moves in the bellies of passenger aircraft, with freighters and passenger flights linking Miami to cities across Colombia and South and Central America.

4

Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport

3,396,437 Tonnes

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Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) handled 3,396,437 metric tonnes of cargo in 2025, up more than 13%. The airport serves a modest passenger market, but it is home to UPS Worldport, the integrator’s principal global air hub. UPS began building its air operation in Louisville in the 1980s and opened Worldport in 2002. As of the end of 2025, the facility covered 5.2 million square feet (483,000 square meters), with capacity to process 416,000 packages per hour and 125 aircraft parking positions. On a normal day, it processes approximately 2 million packages.

The US express market shifted around Louisville during the same period. UPS replaced FedEx as the US Postal Service’s primary air cargo provider on September 30, 2024, under a contract running a minimum of five and a half years and covering First-Class Mail, Priority Mail Express, and Priority Mail. FedEx had held the contract for more than 20 years. UPS did not plan to run all of that volume through Louisville. CEO Carol Tomé said in April 2024: “Of course, we will use Worldport, but we will also use our regional gateways.” For FedEx, the loss hit Memphis directly, and the airport fell from third to sixth in the ACI rankings with volumes down 20.9%.

Worldport’s position relative to Memphis has also changed. A report from DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute published in February 2026 found that the Louisville hub had overtaken Memphis as the largest global express air hub during its study period, handling an average of 202 flights per day in the busy mid-week period, 37 more than the FedEx facility. On peak days, Worldport showed 25.4% more tonnage capacity than Memphis. The researchers attributed the shift to FedEx’s Network 2.0 restructuring, which moved some deferred freight from hub flights to trucking and point-to-point routes. FreightWaves noted that the loss of the Postal Service contract also affected FedEx’s afternoon flights at Memphis.

3

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport

3,854,614 Tonnes

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Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) handled 3,854,614 metric tonnes of cargo in 2025, up 4.2%, climbing one place from fourth to third. That makes it the busiest cargo airport in the United States by ACI’s measure, despite serving a metropolitan area of fewer than 300,000 people. ACI notes that Anchorage’s total includes transit freight, cargo that passes through the airport on its way between other destinations without originating or terminating in Alaska. Very little of ANC’s volume is local.

The reason is geography. Anchorage sits close to the great-circle route between East Asia and North America and is about 9.5 hours of flying time from 90% of the industrialized world. Freighters flying between Asian manufacturing hubs and US destinations stop at ANC to refuel and change crews, which allows them to depart with less fuel and more payload than a nonstop flight would permit. Simple Flying reported in August 2026 that roughly 80% of transpacific cargo flights make a stop at Anchorage. In many cases, the cargo stays aboard while the aircraft refuels and continues with a fresh crew. The airport operates around the clock with no curfew, which matters for freight schedules timed to overnight sorting windows at the destination.

Both FedEx and UPS established sorting facilities at ANC in the late 1980s, and FedEx operates the largest cargo facility at the airport. Asian carriers rely on it heavily as well. According to Cathay Cargo, Anchorage is the airline’s second-busiest station after Hong Kong, and its teams typically turn 10 to 15 freighters there each day. The airline also reports that the airport handled roughly 50,000 cargo aircraft movements in 2023, outnumbering its approximately 43,000 passenger services.

2

Shanghai Pudong International Airport

4,091,941 Tonnes

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Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) handled 4,091,941 metric tonnes of cargo in 2025, retaining second place for another year. Its 8.3% growth rate was the strongest among the top three airports and roughly triple Hong Kong’s. PVG is the main international gateway for Shanghai and the surrounding Yangtze River Delta, one of China’s largest manufacturing and export regions. Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines operates hubs at both Pudong and Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA).

Cross-border e-commerce has become a central focus of the airport’s cargo development. The Pudong government reports that the airport introduced a direct logistics model for off-site cargo stations across the Yangtze River Delta, allowing shipments to be processed closer to where they are produced, along with streamlined collection procedures for cross-border e-commerce goods. International integrators have a long-established presence as well. UPS has operated an international air hub at PVG since 2008, and the airport is one of the Asian hubs in the UPS network connecting back to Worldport in Louisville.

The newest addition to PVG’s cargo infrastructure opened in June 2026. Swissport launched operations at the Digital & Intelligent International Cargo Terminal in the airport’s West Cargo Area, the ground handler’s first operation in China. The facility is run jointly with Smarex, a joint venture between AVINEX Logistics, the logistics company of the Shanghai Airport Authority, and China Eastern Airlines Logistics, the cargo arm of China Eastern Airlines. Covering approximately 1.55 million square feet (144,000 square meters), the terminal is designed to handle between 600,000 and 1.2 million tons of international cargo annually. It was built specifically for cross-border e-commerce, using an “inspect-first, then-deliver” customs coordination model and high-speed automated sorting across four loop lines. Swissport put the total investment at 1.56 billion yuan, approximately $215 million.

1

Hong Kong International Airport

5,066,345 Tonnes

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Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) handled 5,066,345 metric tonnes of cargo in 2025, up 2.7% from 2024. According to Air Cargo News, it was the 15th time since 2010 that HKG finished the year as the world’s busiest cargo airport. The Airport Authority Hong Kong reports that the airport has been the busiest international cargo airport since 1996, and that the cargo it handled in 2025 accounted for more than 45% of the total value of Hong Kong’s external trade, approximately HK$4,965 billion. HKG currently provides 69 parking stands for cargo aircraft.

Cathay Pacific, the airport’s major airline customer, operates its Cathay Cargo freighter fleet from HKG, and locally based Hong Kong Air Cargo has been expanding its network. HKG serves as an air gateway for the Greater Bay Area of southern China, and transshipment, cargo transferred between flights without leaving the airport, is a core part of its business. Transshipment volumes grew 18% year on year in December 2025 alone. In September 2025, the airport introduced the Air-Land Fresh Lane, which moves fruit, chilled products, and live seafood from HKG into the Greater Bay Area across the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, with mainland customs clearance in Zhuhai completed within approximately three hours of arrival. Cathay Cargo was the first airline to use the route.

Capacity is set to grow substantially. HKG’s Three-Runway System was commissioned in November 2024, and the airport has set a target of handling 10 million tonnes of cargo annually within about a decade. A new UPS cargo hub scheduled for completion in 2028 will add nearly one million tonnes of annual handling capacity. Construction is also underway on an airside intermodal cargo pier and transshipment facility, with phased completion beginning in 2026-2027, designed to speed sea-to-air and air-to-air transfers.