Air Cargo Between the U.S. and World Regions, including China, February 2020 (Preliminary)

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BTS 25-20
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Contact: Dave Smallen
Tel:  202-366-5568

 

Air Cargo Between the U.S. and World Regions, including China, February 2020 (Preliminary)

 

International Air Cargo Feb 2020

 

 

Airlines carried 7.3% less cargo by weight between the U.S. and foreign points in February 2020 than in February 2019, according to data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by large air carriers.

 

February 2020 cargo numbers by world geographic regions (by weight):

  • Total: 593 thousand tons, down 7.3% from February 2019 (640T tons)
  • Atlantic: 99.0 thousand tons, down 0.3% from February 2019 (99.3T tons)
  • Latin America: 50 thousand tons, unchanged from February 2019 (50T tons)
  • Pacific (including China): 60 thousand tons, down 24% from February 2019 (79T tons)
  • China: 44 thousand tons, down 22% from February 2019 (57T tons)

 

Air cargo reports are filed monthly with BTS. Final February data will be released on May 14.  Complete international data by origin and destination will be released on Aug. 13. Cargo data in this release consists of cargo carried between the U.S. and foreign points.

 

Total Cargo to and from the U.S.

February 2020 would be the 16th consecutive month that the weight of cargo carried on U.S. and foreign airlines between the U.S. and foreign points declined from the same month of the previous year. The year-to-year decline of 7.3% from February 2019 would be a larger decrease than the 6.1% decline from January 2019 to January 2020.

 

Table 1: Total Cargo to and from the U.S.: Percent Change from the Same Month of the Previous Year 2017-2020
Change in Weight of Cargo on U.S. and Foreign Airlines
Cargo= Freight + Mail 
   

Year-to-Year Percent Change

 

2016-2017

2017-2018

2018-2019

2019-2020

January

7.4

13.3

-2.1

-6.1

February

6.3

14.2

-4.5

-7.3*

March

10.0

11.7

-1.9

 

April

6.3

13.0

-10.0

 

May

10.9

12.3

-6.5

 

June

11.1

9.3

-7.7

 

July

11.9

4.4

-8.4

 

August

13.3

4.7

-5.3

 

September

9.5

5.8

-10.6

 

October

13.9

1.2

-11.8

 

November

20.2

-9.4

-4.0

 

December

14.5

-2.2

-8.6

 

Annual

11.5

5.9

-6.9

 

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market (All Carriers)
* February 2020 data is preliminary

 

Atlantic Region Cargo

February 2020 would be the 17th consecutive month that the weight of cargo carried on U.S. and foreign airlines between the U.S. and the Atlantic region declined from the same month of the previous year. The year-to-year decline of 0.3% from February 2019 would be the smallest decrease in those 17 months.

 

 

Table 2: Atlantic Region Cargo to and from the U.S.: Percent Change from the Same Month of the Previous Year 2017-2020
Change in Weight of Cargo on U.S. and Foreign Airlines
Cargo= Freight + Mail
   

Year-to-Year Percent Change

 

2016-2017

2017-2018

2018-2019

2019-2020

January

10.5

7.4

-3.3

-5.8

February

6.3

7.0

-1.2

-0.3*

March

15.2

7.5

-5.3

 

April

10.8

3.2

-7.3

 

May

18.3

0.9

-7.5

 

June

16.7

3.9

-13.6

 

July

15.1

-1.5

-9.9

 

August

14.6

1.0

-9.9

 

September

8.3

1.1

-15.3

 

October

12.0

-1.9

-12.5

 

November

12.4

-4.7

-7.5

 

December

5.3

-2.3

-10.1

 

Annual

12.1

1.6

-8.8

 

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market (All Carriers)
* February 2020 data is preliminary

 

 

Latin America Region

Cargo by weight between the U.S. and Latin America was unchanged in February 2020 from February 2019 after three consecutive year-to-year declines. Previously, U.S.-Latin America cargo declined from the same month of the previous year in 15 of the 18 months through January 2020.

 

 

Table 3: Latin America Region Cargo to and from the U.S.: Percent Change from the Same Month of the Previous Year 2016-2020
Change in Weight of Cargo on U.S. and Foreign Airlines
Cargo= Freight + Mail
   

Year-to-Year Percent Change

 

2016-2017

2017-2018

2018-2019

2019-2020

January

0.6

12.3

-3.8

-5.0

February

8.3

11.5

-6.9

0.0*

March

14.3

5.8

-6.2

 

April

4.0

16.9

-29.6

 

May

2.6

-11.9

17.4

 

June

-0.1

0.3

-3.7

 

July

-20.9

24.8

-5.8

 

August

-1.8

-3.0

-3.1

 

September

-7.9

1.7

-6.1

 

October

40.8

-13.2

-10.5

 

November

7.3

-9.1

0.1

 

December

10.2

-4.0

-6.4

 

Annual

4.1

1.6

-5.8

 

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market (All Carriers)
* February 2020 data is preliminary
 

  

Pacific Region (including China)

February 2020 would be the 13th consecutive month that the weight of cargo carried on U.S. and foreign airlines between the U.S. and the Pacific region declined from the same month of the previous year. The 24% decline from February 2019 would be the largest year-to-year decline during that time.

 

 

Table 4: Pacific Region Cargo to and from the U.S.: Percent Change from the Same Month of the Previous Year 2016-2020 (including China)
Change in Weight of Cargo on U.S. and Foreign Airlines
Cargo= Freight + Mail
   

Year-to-Year Percent Change

 

2016-2017

2017-2018

2018-2019

2019-2020

January

17.1

6.5

0.7

-7.3

February

20.0

0.7

-7.3

-24.1*

March

10.3

-0.1

-2.5

 

April

8.1

-0.1

-4.1

 

May

10.8

0.5

-2.8

 

June

12.9

1.4

-4.8

 

July

11.3

3.6

-3.5

 

August

10.5

4.2

-5.3

 

September

11.4

2.0

-18.1

 

October

1.1

4.2

-18.8

 

November

7.0

-1.8

-20.7

 

December

7.8

-0.8

-5.9

 

Annual

10.2

1.6

-7.9

 

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market (All Carriers)
* February 2020 data is preliminary

 

 

China

February 2020 would be the third consecutive month and the 15th out of 16 months that the weight of cargo carried on U.S. and foreign airlines between the U.S. and China declined from the same month of the previous year. The 22% decline from February 2019 would be the largest year-to-year decline during that time. During February 2020, 69% of the freight was flown from China to the U.S. while 31% was carried from the U.S. to China.

 

 

Table 5: China Cargo to and from the U.S.: Percent Change from the Same Month of the Previous Year 2016-2020
Change in Weight of Cargo on U.S. and Foreign Airlines
Cargo= Freight + Mail
   

Year-to-Year Percent Change

 

2016-2017

2017-2018

2018-2019

2019-2020

January

6.2

30.1

-2.0

-11.8

February

20.8

20.0

-10.9

-22.0*

March

8.5

21.4

-1.6

 

April

15.7

14.4

-1.5

 

May

24.3

16.3

-4.7

 

June

19.9

17.9

-4.0

 

July

31.2

9.3

-9.2

 

August

18.8

21.2

-6.9

 

September

18.8

18.6

-10.0

 

October

19.1

6.2

-7.2

 

November

13.5

-6.8

7.9

 

December

20.1

2.4

-3.8

 

Annual

17.9

13.2

-4.4

 

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market (All Carriers)
* February 2020 data is preliminary

 

 

China Air Cargo to U.S. Cities

Los Angeles was top city for air cargo shipments by weight from China in February 2019 but it would be surpassed by Chicago and Anchorage, Alaska, in February 2020.     

 

U.S. Cities Air Cargo Shipments from China
Weight in pounds

US Cities

February 2019

February 2020

Los Angeles, CA

22,604,244

14,618,032

Anchorage, AK

19,206,323

18,170,862

Chicago, IL

18,342,982

22,685,195

New York, NY

6,986,832

3,892,925

San Francisco, CA

3,386,287

268,109

Memphis, TN

3,155,447

*

Atlanta, GA

2,263,624

23,186

Dallas/Fort Worth, TX

1,758,327

*

Oakland, CA

1,426,440

*

Newark, NJ

1,210,869

*

Houston, TX

1,090,742

*

Washington, DC

978,192

*

Detroit, MI

900,431

*

Seattle, WA

784,261

62,131

Boston, MA

337,331

*

San Jose, CA

199,278

*

Honolulu, HI

107,967

*

Denver, CO

106,656

*

 Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market (All Carriers)
* February 2020 data is preliminary

Note: February 2020 data is withheld due to confidentiality restrictions if fewer than three airlines provide service to the city

 

Reporting Notes

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial U.S. air carriers detailing operations, passenger traffic and cargo traffic. This release includes data received by BTS from 15 U.S. airlines as of April 17.

 

See the BTS Airlines and Airports page for additional U.S. airlines numbers through January for U.S. airlines. International data by origin and destination is available through October.

 

BTS has scheduled May 14 for the release of reported data through February.

 

None of the data are from samples. Measures of statistical significance do not apply to the complete air traffic data.