ABSTRACT
According to IATA, air cargo accounts for over one-third of world trade by product value. In 2013, global air cargo traffic measured by revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) was 207.8 billion. The total value of goods handled each year is valued at over US$6.4 trillion, about 33 per cent of world trade. Over the 40 years from 1971 to 2010, global air cargo traffic (measured by RTKs) expanded at an average of 7 per cent per year, higher than the 4.4 per cent annual growth in world gross domestic product (GDP) and the 2.5 per cent annual growth in world industrial production. However, since 2001, global economic uncertainty has meant growth in air cargo has slowed, and an increasing number of shippers have switched to lower-cost surface transport modes to reduce transport costs. Overall, growth in world air cargo has continued to outpace growth in global GDP, although not growth in international merchandise exports (see Figure 15.1).
