Air freight on international flight routes

Aviation is the only mode of transport that can conquer vast distances and seas in a short amount of time. This makes it an important service for moving people internationally, but also goods.
The volume of air freight and airmail sent from or to Switzerland from all airports in 2019 was 463,000 tonnes. This volume is expected to rise to 700,000 tonnes in 2030. The mean annual growth rate of 4.2% (by 2030) is higher than the expected increase in passenger traffic and is very strongly influenced by Switzerland’s forecasted dynamic economic growth as an export country.
In 2020, a total of 274,700 tonnes of freight and post were handled at Swiss airports by scheduled and charter operators. The total volume has decreased by 41% compared to 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Freight tonnage remained clearly dominant with a share of 95%, In 2020, 65% of air freight and 85% of postal transport were handled by Zurich airport. Between 2000 and 2002, freight traffic had already fallen sharply as a result of Swissair’s bankruptcy. But it had picked up again until the arrival of the pandemic.

Air freight
The term air freight/cargo refers to all goods that are transported by aviation. Around half of the air freight worldwide is transported in the lower decks of passenger planes, the other half on cargo aircraft. Air freight is also dispatched from almost every airport. Civil air freight has increased strongly since the 1960s.

Airmail
Airmail is the transportation of mail by cargo aircraft. The world’s first official airmail flight was on 18 February 1911 in India: the young French pilot Henri Pequet transported around 6,500 letters from Allahabad to Naini, which was around eight kilometres away. The aviation pioneer Oskar Bider transported the first Swiss airmail on 9 March 1913 from Basel – Liestal.