# Airmail transported on international flight routes

A map of a former edition of the Atlas of Switzerland, the national atlas published by ETH Zurich. It opens only in the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS, not in the web atlas; see the links below.

- Map: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/airmail-transported-on-international-flight-routes/
- Short title: Airmail
- Map id: 514
- Categories: Global Switzerland › Traffic and Communication › Air traffic
- Keywords: Air traffic, Transport
- Published: 2017-09-19
- Last revised: 2021-11-09
- Content language: English
- Other languages: [Deutsch](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/de/thema/luftpost-auf-internationalen-flugstrecken.md), [Français](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/fr/theme/poste-aerienne-transporte-sur-les-routes-internationales.md), [Italiano](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/it/tema/posta-aerea-trasportata-sulle-tratte-internazionali.md)

## Description

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.

## Sources

- FSO (2021): [Güterverkehr per Luft, Wasser und Pipelines](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/mobilitaet-verkehr/gueterverkehr/luft-wasser-pipelines.html)
- INFRAS (2006): Volkswirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Luftfahrt in der Schweiz. Zürich
- Wikipedia contributors (2017): [Luftfracht](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftfracht). In: Wikipedia
- Wikipedia contributors (2017): [Luftpost](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftpost). In: Wikipedia

## Data sources

- Atlas of Switzerland (2021): [Fluglinien](http://www.atlasderschweiz.ch/)
- FOCA (2021): Standard Zeitreiheauswertung für die Jahren 2000 bis 2020
- Patokallio (2014): [OpenFlights](http://openflights.org/)
- Wikipedia contributors (2017): [List of busiest airports by passenger traffic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_airports_by_passenger_traffic). In: Wikipedia

## Data owners

- [Atlas of Switzerland (AoS)](http://www.atlasderschweiz.ch/)
- [Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA)](http://www.bazl.admin.ch)
- [Great Circle Mapper](http://www.gcmap.com/)
- [OpenFlights](http://openflights.org/)

## Citation

The terms of use ask to name the Atlas of Switzerland and the data owners, and to keep the source references in exports, screenshots and embeds. Cite the map as:

> Atlas of Switzerland (2021): Airmail transported on international flight routes. ETH Zürich. Map data © AoS, FOCA, Great Circle Mapper, OpenFlights. https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/airmail-transported-on-international-flight-routes/

## Links

- Map page, with the description and sources and a button that opens the map in the desktop atlas: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/airmail-transported-on-international-flight-routes/
- Open the map in the desktop atlas (version 4), where it is installed: adsglobe://map/514
- Download of the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/ads4-download/

## Related maps

- [Flight movements on international routes](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/flight-movements-on-international-routes.md) (id 512, former edition, desktop atlas only)

For the use and citation of maps and data, see the [terms of use](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/terms-of-use/).