The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is the global representative body for the airline industry, has, in its latest report, 'Air Cargo, Trade and Economic Growth in 2025', highlighted the key role played by the sector during the trade turbulence of last year. “2025 was an unusually volatile year for global trade, marked by rapidly shifting US trade policy and exceptionally high levels of policy uncertainty,” stated the opening sentence of the report.

Throughout the year, air cargo played a key role in maintaining global trade, and supporting continued economic growth, despite all the uncertainty. During the first quarter of last year, air cargo allowed the frontloading of $157-billion in US imports (before the implementation of higher tariffs by that country). And, throughout the year, air cargo carried more than 66% of AI-related goods. In consequence, it supported the 2.4% increase in global trade last year, a figure which was significantly higher than World Trade Organisation forecasts. This, in turn helped global gross domestic product to go up by 3.2%.

“Air cargo is a structural component of global economic resilience,” affirmed IATA Industry Analysis Head Julia Seiermann. “In 2025, it helped businesses absorb tariff shocks, enabled rapid trade restructuring, and supported the expansion of [AI] investment, helping sustain trade and economic growth in a challenging year.”

Regarding US trade, last year that country increased its average tariff to about 17%, which was the highest level since the 1930s. Many companies accelerated their deliveries to the US to avoid the increased tariffs, with the result that US imports during the first quarter of 2025 jumped 26%, year-on-year, or, in money terms, an increase of $193-billion. Of these increased imports, 82%, worth $157-billion, were carried by air.

The US tariff surge also resulted in a rewiring of international trade lanes. US importers sought to source goods from less-heavily tariffed countries, while exporters refocused on other markets, especially in Europe. Air cargo enabled these rapid switches, and benefitted more from the expanding trade lanes than it lost from the contracting ones. Thus, while US imports on expanding trade lanes increased by $213-billion, of which 82%, or $174-billion, was carried by air, the country’s imports on its contracting trade lanes fell by $257-billion, of which only 30%, or $77-billion, was carried by air.

The same phenomenon was observed in Europe. Air cargo took a 48% share of the increases on the growing trade lanes, but suffered only 3% of the losses on the shrinking lanes.

Last year also saw a boom in investment in AI, and air cargo reliably and efficiently delivered time-sensitive and high-value equipment, including memory chips, data storage units, and servers. The year saw more than 66% of AI-related trade (by value) transported by air. AI-related goods transported by air increased by 20% year-on-year. And AI-related goods, although accounting for only 7% of air cargo by volume, accounted for 53.5% by value, last year.

“The rapid increase in demand for AI-related goods in 2025 was met thanks to air cargo, allowing investment to translate into economic activity rather than being constrained by logistics,” she pointed out. “As economies increasingly and strategically rely on high-value technology goods, air cargo will continue to play a critical role in ensuring their timely delivery.”