Christopher Hughes
Research expert covering Australia and New Zealand
Air freight in Australia - statistics & facts
The air freight industry includes the transport of goods by air for both import and export, as well as domestic shipping. In Australia, air freight is generally low volume but high value; recent years have seen a trade volume of around 1.2 million metric tons with a trade value of approximately 110 billion Australian dollars. Approximately half of the country's air freight arrived or departed from Sydney, with the rest spread across Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth. Less than five percent landed or took off from other cities.
Air freight imports
Over the last couple of financial years, more freight was imported rather than exported by air in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. In each of these cities, the value of these imports was worth around four times the value of exports. However, for Perth this trend is reversed; exports by air from the city had a value of around double that of imports. When considering trade volume, the import volume was higher at Sydney airport - Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth airports all had a higher volume of exports over imports. Machinery, mechanical appliances, and electrical equipment account for the majority of Australia’s air imports.Freight import volume from the Asia-Pacific region
Imports by air into Sydney airport from the wider APAC region reach significant levels year on year. For example, imports from Singapore reach over 70 thousand metric tons per year. Notably, air freight imported from Hong Kong has been falling steadily, dropping to around 45 thousand metric tons in 2020, around five thousand metric tons less than was imported from Auckland, New Zealand.
