Press Air freight during the corona crisis: comparatively moderate year-on-year decline of 12.1% in the period from March to May 2020

Press release No. N 040 of 22 July 2020

- Increase in dedicated cargo flights (+7.9%) partly compensated the loss of belly-hold capacities on passenger flights

- Individual airports were able to expand freight traffic: +57.0% at Frankfurt-Hahn (March to May 2020 compared with the same period a year earlier)

- Significant rise in air freight prices in the 1^st quarter of 2020: +40.6% for air freight to China compared with 1st quarter of 2019)

WIESBADEN – While the travel restrictions due to the corona pandemic had a serious impact on air passenger transport, air freight transport continued. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that the volumes of incoming and outgoing air freight decreased by 12.1% to roughly 1.1 million tonnes in the period from March to May 2020 compared with the same period a year earlier (March to May 2019: 1.2 million tonnes). For comparison: the number of passengers at German airports declined by 87.4% in the same period.

Air traffic results are available on the “Corona statistics“ webpage of the Federal Statistical Office together with other indicators which can be used to assess the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.