Airports Council International (ACI), a worldwide association of airports with 592 member airport authorities, reports airfreight volumes at the world's airports stayed positive for a second month in a row, with November's result up 3.4% year-on-year.
This comes after a sluggish year for most of 2013 with growth almost flat over the last 12 months.
The growth in air freight traffic was primarily fuelled by the international market, which was up 5.4% in November year on year, while domestic markets remain weak at minus one percent.
Dubai (+11.6%) and Hong Kong (+6.6%) were the key international freight hubs. Airports serving a large domestic market did not fare as well, with Beijing volumes falling 1.7% in November 2013.
ACI World's economics director Rafael Echevarne commented: "The airport that really stands out for the month of November and for the year as a whole is Dubai (DXB). With double-digit growth rates in 2013 in passenger traffic, Dubai is likely to move up three positions to become the seventh busiest airport in the world in 2013.
"Emerging markets such as Turkey, China and southeast Asia that have a critical mass of traffic remain the major contributors to the upward surge in air transport demand."
ACI predicted that rising business confidence and an improving US economic outlook will likely drive up airfreight volumes as compared to the last 24 months.
"That being said, the high price of fuel coupled with excess aircraft belly capacity remains an overall impediment to air freight growth unless aviation markets evolve to adjust to these challenges," it added.
