Despite this year’s turbulence, air cargo stakeholders are continuing to work hard to attract and adapt to the needs of e-commerce customers. Ian Putger reports, with additional reporting from Will Waters
US government moves against uncontrolled parcel imports, notably the withdrawal of ‘de minimis’ import exemptions for relatively low-value shipments, have had a profound impact on e-commerce flows this year. According to Chinese customs data, shipments of low-value and e-commerce goods from China to the US in September were down, year on year (YoY), by 34%, their fifth straight month of decline, although the drop moderated from a -49% YoY deficit in June.
Overall air freight volumes from China to the US have dropped significantly since the US in May ended duty-free exemptions for Chinese-made goods valued at less than US$800, which the US then expanded from August to include goods from other countries. The changes prompted big cuts in China-US freighter capacity, with knock-on effects globally. The decline in air freight volumes from China to the US has subsequently moderated, although it is still very significant – especially from Hong Kong and southern China. Figures seen by CAAS indicate that between July and October, air cargo tonnages from mainland China to the US have been down, YoY, by an average of around -5%, YoY. But from Hong Kong, a key gateway for southern China’s e-commerce air exports, the YoY deficit has averaged around -15%.
This year’s changes in the US have affected other flows, including air cargo demand from Europe to the US. For example, DHL reduced capacity from Europe to the US, observed Jamie Porteous, co-CEO of Canadian freighter airline Cargojet – which focuses primarily on linehaul for express firms, from integrators and Amazon to Canada Post.
And in the absence of the de minimis exemptions, parcels now arriving in the US by air from all international origin points also face heightened customs hurdles, which left growing volumes stuck at airport warehouses as they hit problems with import clearance. In a service alert, UPS flagged a “substantial rise of formal customs clearances, which has led to increased processing times and delays”. In October, it confirmed reports that it had begun to dispose of shipments that were clogging up its facilities.
E-commerce pivot to other markets
But the most obvious effects have been seen on e-commerce exports from China, as Chinese online platforms pivoted to other markets to sell their goods, while also re-engineering their supply chains to the US. China customs data shows low-value and e-commerce sales to Europe surged +62% year-on-year in September, double the growth rate of a year ago and far outpacing China’s overall e-commerce expansion of +18%. And for the first nine months of this year, low-value and e-commerce sales from China to Europe were 58% higher than in 2024. However, in November the European Union confirmed that it will remove its €150 ‘de minimis’ customs duty relief threshold from 2028, and will work on a temporary solution to collect custom duties on all e-commerce packages ‘as early as possible in 2026’, potentially acting as a future brake on European e-commerce imports.
Latin America has been another welcoming market this year for Chinese e-commerce goods. E-commerce imports into Argentina have grown by around 250% this year, from an admittedly low base. In neighbouring Uruguay, incoming parcel traffic in the first nine months of the year was up 117%, YoY.
Carriers were quick to adjust their routes to shifting traffic flows. Faced with a $150 million per year hit on revenues due to sinking transpacific volumes, FedEx shifted 25% of its capacity in that arena to routes linking Asia to Europe. In response to growing intra-Asian traffic, both FedEx and UPS have added capacity in that market, mostly focusing on southeast Asia.
And there has also been a shift in the origin points of US imports, with origin countries in southeast Asia seeing strong rises in air cargo tonnages to the US this year, whereas tonnages from China to the US have been down, YoY. Figures from WorldACD indicate that tonnages from Asia Pacific as a whole to the US remain up, YoY, by around +5% in October, as they have for much of 2025, including huge YoY increases of around 30-50% from Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
E-commerce volumes boom in Europe
As highlighted in the Europe report (page 20), air cargo volumes handled by Europe’s top 10 cargo airports have been largely stagnant over the last 12 months, with the exception of the strong growth at Belgium’s Liège Airport, which has successfully positioned itself as an e-commerce air import hub for the region. What cargo growth there has been in the last year at European airports has come mainly from smaller or specialist cargo airports – often favoured by e-commerce shippers – outside Europe’s top 10, such as Budapest, Prague, Warsaw, Brussels and East Midlands.
But even the rather static tonnages handled by Europe’s top 10 cargo airports contain substantial and growing volumes of e-commerce traffic. For example, tonnages handled at Europe’s biggest air cargo hub, Frankfurt Airport, were flat in September compared with the previous year, but tonnages on routes between China and Frankfurt increased by 22%, “a result of the burgeoning e-commerce segment”, the airport said. Interestingly, outbound tonnage growth at +27% was even higher than the inbound tonnage increase (+18%) on that China-Frankfurt market.
At Budapest Airport (BUD), tonnage was up nearly 50% in the first half of the year, with BUD increasingly being seen as an air import hub for e-commerce traffic for central and eastern Europe. One factor behind this was Hungary Airlines, which entered the market at the end of last year with an A330 freighter and subsequently leased a B747-400F to fly the Beijing-Budapest route. The fledgling carrier was expecting delivery of a B777 cargo aircraft in November.
The UK’s East Midlands Airport has benefitted this year from Chinese e-commerce cargo volumes seeking alternative destinations due to the changes in the US. In the 6 months from May to October, tonnages handled reached almost 240,000 tonnes, a rise of around 11%, YoY. Recent developments include Swissport and FedEx moving into larger premises to meet rising demand. And in November, One Air announced a partnership with China-headquartered SF Express, “to expedite cross-border deliveries between China and the UK”. Under the initial one-year charter agreement, four B747-400BDSF freighter services per week now connect the central China hub of Ezhou with EMA – part of “SF’s strategic planning in Europe and network expansion worldwide”.
Freighters in hot demand
Freighters have been in hot demand to ply emerging e-commerce routes, which added new airports to the international all-cargo network. For example, Cargo First, the dedicated cargo handling division of the UK’s Bournemouth Airport, clocked up a 70% rise in tonnage in the 12 months to March, which was fuelled largely by e-commerce. A major driver of growth has been European Cargo, which is based at the airport, running a fleet of A340-600 aircraft that were converted into ‘preighters’ during the pandemic.
In October, Cargo First announced the completion of new cargo facilities – three aircraft stands, a larger cargo operations centre, and a set of landside developments to improve truck access. According to Ian Edwards, European Cargo’s chief operating officer, the use of Bournemouth allows the airline faster deliveries to the British capital than flying to the London airports while avoiding the congestion there.
And Scotland’s Prestwick Airport (PIK) has had a breakthrough year, thanks to e-commerce-led flights. Investment in PIK’s infrastructure, processes and product, after talking with e-commerce logistics players and delivery partners, has helped establish PIK as an air import hub for e-commerce traffic, this year attracting multiple freighter flights per week from Chinese air cargo operators.
It is a card that Billund Airport is also looking to play. The Danish airport, whose cargo carrier base includes Maersk Air Cargo, Turkish Airlines, FedEx and DHL, has worked closely with the Danish customs service to market itself as an alternative gateway for e-commerce. Its cargo traffic grew by 17% to around 90,000 tonnes in 2024.
B2B2C and emerging e-commerce models
While e-commerce parcels still reach the US by air, online merchants have built up a B2B2C model by inserting a US-based wholesale platform, so tariffs are levied on the wholesale price rather than the retail value. Further cost reductions can be achieved by sending consignments in bulk by ocean to feed distribution centres around the US.
The jury is still out in how far long-distance e-commerce will migrate over time to consolidations feeding distribution and fulfilment centres in target markets, but predictions for the importance of air freight remain robust. According to the International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), e-commerce accounted for 20% of global air freight in 2024 and is expected to double within a decade.
“E-commerce is the biggest driver of our business,” says Cargojet’s Jamie Porteous. Despite the reduced volumes with DHL and domestic hiccups from strikes at the integrator and at Canada Post, Cargojet’s volume has still increased 10-12% this year, he adds.
Cargo handlers adapting
Cargo handlers are also adapting their strategies, infrastructure and processes to maximise the potential of e-commerce, while remaining conscious that demand can shift in response to geopolitical changes or changes to their customer portfolio.
Lawrence Tse, who joined Menzies Aviation as head of e-commerce in the summer, commented: “E-commerce is a core pillar in Menzies’ growth strategy for the cargo business. With e-commerce now driving a significant portion of global air cargo volumes, we’re evolving beyond traditional ground handling to provide integrated solutions tailored to this fast-moving vertical.”
WFS has also been expanding its specialised E-commerce & Freight Forwarder Handling (EFFH) services, this year adding EFFH capabilities in Copenhagen, Denmark, to its EFFH services in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Liege, Madrid, Stockholm, and at 12 airports across France. Frankfurt Airport, Europe’s largest cargo hub, will also join its EFFH network next January, after WFS signed a lease on two warehouse facilities within the airport’s Cargo City South – “to seize new opportunities with freight forwarding, trucking, and e-commerce companies”.
The facilities will be equipped with ULD handling systems and volume and dimension scanners to expedite the processing of shipments.
And in July, WFS opened a 4,800sqm EFFH building at Copenhagen Airport that includes the ability to capture weight and cargo measurements, provide crating, repacking, security screening, consolidation, shipment labelling and transport between forwarders and handling agents. It also covers import deconsolidation, sorting, preparing shipments for customs clearance, and onward transportation by road.
Shanghai developments
Swissport has also been expanding the breadth and scale of its e-commerce cargo handling capabilities. For example, in November it unveiled an expansion of its European e-commerce network with the opening of a new 5,500sqm second-line warehouse at Liege Airport, dedicated to import parcel handling, increasing its total e-commerce footprint in Liege to 9,000sqm. Swissport said the new facility “gives us the flexibility to manage complex, piece-intensive flows with full digital integration”. And this October, Swissport’s cargo handling capabilities in Asia, particularly for e-commerce cargo handling, took a significant leap forward, when it signed an agreement to manage and jointly operate the new ‘Digital & Intelligent International Cargo Terminal’ at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, in partnership with Smargo, a joint venture between AVINEX Logistics and China Eastern Airlines Logistics. The US$215-million, 220,000sqm next-generation cargo terminal is designed to handle between 600,000 tonnes and 1.2 million tonnes of international cargo annually when it becomes operational in late 2025.
The Shanghai facility’s cross-border e-commerce capabilities include four high-speed automated sorting systems able to process 3,500 parcels per hour – “triple the throughput of conventional cargo terminals” – enabling up to 40% faster delivery of Chinese exports to global markets, Swissport said, adding that this “addresses one of the most significant challenges facing Chinese e-commerce merchants: international delivery speed and reliability”.
Designed for the demands of modern e-commerce and global supply chains, the terminal features an AI-driven warehouse management system with 99.5% scheduling accuracy – 60% higher than conventional operations, Swissport claimed. Its fully automated processes, including 94 autonomous vehicles and specialised AGVs, “eliminate manual handling, reduce errors, and cut dwell times, giving customers real-time visibility and predictable, efficient cargo flow”, the cargo handling operator added.
“Market trends show cross-border e-commerce from China is expected to reach US$230 billion by 2026, growing at over 25% annually and creating demand for precisely the specialised handling capabilities Swissport has developed,” Swissport noted. “The Shanghai operation will directly connect into Swissport’s global network, creating a seamless pipeline for Chinese goods reaching international markets.”
Swissport already operates specialised e-commerce cargo hubs in key global locations including New York JFK, Liège, Brussels, Basel, and Milan.
Fellow cargo handler at Pudong, PACTL, is also planning to build an additional facility dedicated to e-commerce, a segment that has continued to show strength. A major catalyst was a facilitation solution of e-commerce transport late last year, which simplified the certification process for the shipment of cosmetics and electronics with batteries as e-commerce from mainland China. PACTL estimates that e-commerce now constitutes about 30-35% of its volumes. Historically an origin and destination airport, the airport has been moving to develop its transit business, enabling it to tap into e-commerce volumes that have largely been generated further south. And PACTL has worked with customs and security officials to develop processes for transfers.
Airport developments
And airports in various other parts of the world are also adjusting and investing in new infrastructure.
At Montevideo’s Carrasco airport, work has commenced on a new facility to handle e-commerce. The new building is expected to come on stream in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to Bruno Guella, general manager of Latin America Cargo City (LACC), the airport’s cargo arm.
He notes that the e-commerce influx so far has been purely for the Uruguayan market. Having established itself as a logistics hub and gateway serving the wider region, LACC is looking to extend this role to e-commerce headed to neighbouring countries.
Edmonton International Airport is set to commence the ground infrastructure work for its planned International Cargo Hub, a massive greenfield project announced in 2022 to expand the airport’s cargo and logistics handling capabilities. The C$300 million (US$214.5 million) project aims to develop a new cargo handling apron, warehousing and distribution facilities as well as e-commerce infrastructure on a 2,000-acre site adjacent to the airport.
The airport received money from the Canadian government’s National Trade Corridors Fund, which stipulates that the first phase has to be completed by the end of 2027, notes Alex Lowe, director of e-commerce, cargo and aviation real estate.
At this point it is not decided yet if there will be a dedicated e-commerce facility in the mix, but there is no doubt about the airport’s focus on the segment. It is one of the founding members of Ship Alberta, an initiative launched early this year to support companies in the region to export and grow international business. At its heart is an online shipping platform that enables users to find partners and trusted carriers, search for competitive rates, and provide tools to automate shipping processes.
Proactive moves
Mike Webber, president of airport planning and cargo consultancy Webber Air Cargo, applauds proactive moves by airports, noting that most North American operators have reverted to or stuck to their passive stance that goes back to years before the pandemic. At most US airports, FedEx, UPS and Amazon have dedicated facilities and “are doing musical chairs inside their buildings rather than new developments”, he says.
“That e-commerce is a demand driver is part of every report we do for clients, but it doesn’t cause plans for e-commerce facility development,” he says, adding that planning horizons inevitably differ from those for airlines, forwarders or handlers, whose assets tend to be more flexible. “With a 20-, 30-year planning horizon, how do you account for de minimis?” he says.
E-commerce handling hubs
At Menzies, one of the key initiatives to grow e-commerce is the development of dedicated e-commerce handling hubs across Europe and the Middle East. These hubs incorporate smart sorting, bonded storage, and priority handling lanes to accelerate parcel-dense operations for speed and efficiency, says Tse.
The repercussions from the US termination of de minimis exemption have illustrated how sensitive global flows are to policy shifts, he notes.
“In response, we’re implementing enhanced customs-clearance models and establishing integrated customs zones within our e-commerce hubs. Coupled with real-time data sharing and pre-advice capabilities, these measures help segment traffic more effectively, reducing queue times and minimising storage dwell,” Tse says.
Stan Wraight, president of consultancy Strategic Aviation Solutions International (SASI), stresses the importance of a system that can handle any duties with complete transparency. This has to bring up the required charge at check-out, so it can be automatically included in the price to the consumer.
This is not a utopian concept. Wraight points to AvSys – a cross-border management platform offered by IT provider Kale Logistics – that covers the elements from package-level handling and tracking to harmonisation for customs clearance, as well as producing routing labels and managing different layers of packaging, from individual bags to containers. It can also integrate first- and last-mile provider systems to create seamless end-to-end coverage of package shipments. Amazon uses the system, primarily for imports to the UK and exports from there to Ireland.
End-to-end visibility
End-to-end visibility is also critical, notes Tse. “We’re deepening system integration with our airline partners, advancing digital API connectivity and shared performance dashboards to enable real-time data exchange and exception management. These initiatives are laying the foundation for scalable, piece-level visibility across our e-commerce operations, ensuring faster response times and greater transparency throughout the handling process,” he says.
The importance of visibility at piece level is a necessary game changer that airlines have been slow to grasp, says Denis Ilin, co-founder and CEO of e-Smart Logistics and a former senior cargo airline and postal executive. Instead of applying their traditional approach of selling cargo by weight or volume, often in consolidations, he urges them to look at e-commerce and its logistics requirements through the lens of e-commerce companies.
“E-commerce doesn’t want consolidations,” he says. They have to be able to manage and track e-commerce at piece level, he stresses. And e-commerce firms are not interested in airport-to-airport offerings, instead seeking end-to-end solutions along the lines of what Cainiao, the logistics arm of Alibaba, provides to its parent, Ilin says.
E-Smart Logistics, which has adopted the AvSys technology to provide end-to-end visibility and data flow between all involved parties, offers airlines a bundled end-to-end solution that facilitates all the requisite activities on the ground, from shipment preparation and document generation to first and final mile, and leverages a platform, including customs.
With this approach, airlines could significantly raise their own margins without raising the overall cost for the e-commerce customer, Ilin reasons, pointing out that a relatively small number of carriers control a critical part in the supply chain. In contrast, there are millions of providers on the first and final-mile sections.
“Airlines control global logistics, but they’re not using it,” he says. E-Smart Logistics is in talks with two interested parties about moving to the proof-of-concept stage, but most airlines are hesitant to advance beyond their traditional role, Ilin says.
In conclusion
Despite this year’s changes in US import tariffs and rules, e-commerce platforms are continuing to ship vast quantities of goods by air, with many markets continuing to grow. And new technology solutions enable different parties to have increased visibility of those shipments, taking air cargo stakeholders closer to being virtual integrators. Whether Whether EU plans to eliminate ‘de minimis’ exemptions will act as a significant future brake on European e-commerce imports remains to be seen. But e-commerce goods will continue to be shipped internationally somewhere.
