Frankfurt Airport handled 178,977 tonnes of cargo (arrival+departure+transit) in May 2025, an increase of 4.4 percent compared to the same period last year.
From January to May, the airport handled 833,610 tonnes, an increase of only 0.5 percent, according to an official release.
“Cargo levels benefited from public holidays falling later this year. In 2024, all public holidays were in May. With a 6.8 percent growth rate, unloadings rose to 90,400 tonnes, reflecting continued disproportionate growth compared with loadings that increased by 2.5 percent to 84,000 tonnes.
“Unloadings from China recorded a 49 percent increase, reflecting a general trend for increased air cargo exports from China, particularly to Germany and other major European e-commerce markets. In the opposite direction, tonnage to China rose at a slower pace (+20.4 percent), but still quite significantly. Overall volumes for the China route increased by 37.1 percent.”
On Middle East routes, cargo tonnage was down by 11.5 percent, a reflection of Lufthansa’s suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv because of heightened conflict in the region, the update added.
“For European cargo traffic (-1.2 percent), the new LH freighter link with Katowice (Poland) had a positive impact but declines for other markets such as Istanbul (-6.3 percent) led to an overall decrease. In African traffic (+9.8 percent), cargo volumes with South Africa and
Kenya benefited from increases in passenger traffic capacity.”
Cargo volumes on U.S. routes rose by 1.3 percent on account of tonnage increases on passenger flights (+10.5 percent). “In particular, routes to Boston and Chicago experienced significant tonnage increases. The Latin America region (+10 percent) benefited from growth with Mexico (+23.6 percent).”
Cargo flights showed a positive trend with growth of 5.3 percent to 2,216 movements. Both intercontinental and European cargo routes saw increases in May 2025. Capacities continued to shift from North America (-18.6 percent) and the Middle East (-17.8 percent) to the Far East (+29.8 percent), the update added.