Hong KongInternationalAirport formally overtook Memphis as the world’s busiest cargo airport in 2010 with release of the full-year figures for the airports. MemphisInternationalAirport has published its report on 2010 showing cargo tonnage grew 5.9 percent over the previous year to 3.9 million metric tons. That was behind the 4.1 million metric tons Hong Kong saw in 2010, when the strong recovery in Asia exports pushed cargo traffic at the airport up 23.4 percent over the year before. Outbound cargo from Hong Kong grew 27.2 percent over 2009. Memphis did not see the steep declines in freight traffic Hong Kong and other airports reported in 2009, largely because of the huge business from FedEx Express and its main air express hub operations. Hong Kong has been the largest international air freight gateway for several years but the big domestic hub operations for FedEx at Memphis have given that airport the edge on overall cargo handling for more than a decade. The Journal of Commerce Online |