Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport moved up two spots to become the world’s fourth busiest international air cargo hub in 2020, according to Montreal-based Airports Council International.
 
Statistics in the preliminary world airport traffic rankings released April 22 by the ACI shows the airport in northern Taiwan handled a record high 2.32 million metric tons of international cargo last year, up 7.31 percent from 2019.
 
The result is TTIA’s best ranking to date, placing the transport center behind only Hong Kong International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport in China and Incheon International Airport in South Korea, in that order. Including domestic cargo traffic, TTIA also moved up two places to seventh globally.
 
Airport operator TTIA Co. attributed the strong showing to the success of government measures and public-private collaboration in managing COVID-19. While economic activity in many countries has been curtailed by the pandemic, Taiwan has experienced strong growth driven by exports that have fueled its aviation cargo industry, it said.
 
Further analysis of TTIA’s operations shows that the U.S. and China accounted for 32 percent and 15 percent of the facility’s international cargo traffic in 2020, with shipments increasing 25.2 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively, year on year.
 
Given the airport’s pivotal location along regional aviation routes, increasing U.S. demand for products produced in Asia and the shifting global economic landscape in the post-pandemic era, TTIA expects its air cargo operations to go from strength to strength in the coming years. (SFC-E)
 
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