Hong Kong International Airport retained its spot as the world’s busiest cargo airport as the whole market registered modest growth of 2.6 per cent in 2015, Airports Council International (ACI) says.

In its 2015 ACI World Airport Traffic Report, the association reports that air cargo growth was slower than the passenger division due to subdued results in developing and emerging markets and modest recovery in advanced economies.

ACI World director general, Angela Gittens warns that the 2016 outlook faces impediments that could hinder growth such as geo-political and security concerns, capacity constraints and protectionist policies reducing economic integration.

Despite this, Gittens says: “Irrespective of the challenges that lay ahead, by and large, the evidence of history supports the long run resiliency of the industry where connecting people, places, cultures and commerce is paramount in the shared mission of the aviation community.”

According to ACI statistics, Asia-Pacific handled 41.1 million tonnes in 2015, up 2.3 per cent, North America grew 3.1 per cent to 30 million tonnes and Europe was the third largest region with growth 0.5 per cent to 18.9 million tonnes. The Middle East grew 9.9 per cent to 8.5 million tonnes, Latin America-Caribbean was down 1.3 per cent to 4.9 million tonnes and Africa was up 3.5 per cent to 2.1 million tonnes.

Hong Kong retained top spot with international volumes increasing 0.1 per cent to 4.38 million tonnes, followed by Dubai International Airport registering 3.4 per cent growth to 2.51 million tonnes, while Incheon International Airport was up 0.6 per cent to 2.49 million tonnes.

For domestic volumes, Memphis International Airport was top with 1.4 per cent growth to 4.1 million tonnes, followed by Louisville International Airport growing three per cent to 1.8 million tonnes and Beijing Capital International Airport increasing by 3.9 per cent to 1.2 million tonnes.