E-commerce has cemented itself as the single biggest structural force reshaping global air cargo, now accounting for more than 20% of worldwide volumes, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The surge is transforming not only capacity planning and network design, but also the complexity of shipments moving through global supply chains.
“Twenty percent of air cargo, we can say, is coming from an e-commerce transaction,” said Andre Majeres, IATA’s Head of E-Commerce and Cargo Operations, underscoring the profound shift toward speed-driven, consumer-led logistics.
With 2.7 billion digital shoppers worldwide and over 80% of cross-border e-commerce transported by air, the sector is seeing elevated fragmentation, tighter delivery windows, and more unpredictable demand patterns—hallmarks of the B2C-driven economy.
While China and the United States continue to dominate online retail, Latin America and Southeast Asia are emerging as fast-growing e-commerce hotspots, generating new mid-tier cargo flows and intensifying the need for agile capacity solutions.
Special Cargo Becomes the New Growth Engine
Majeres stressed that the story of air cargo in 2025 is not just about rising volumes—it is about rising complexity, driven largely by perishables, pharmaceuticals, and new forms of medically sensitive cargo.
“Efficiency is the minimum. Excellence is what we strive for,” he told delegates.
The perishables segment continues to expand globally, led by:
- Fruit & vegetables – 28% of all perishables flown
- Fish – 23%
- General perishables – 19%
- Flowers – 12%
- Meat – 9%
One of the most striking shifts has been the performance of cool goods, which—while still representing just 8% of the perishables category—expanded 62% year-on-year, a sign of mounting demand for temperature-sensitive consumer and food products.
Pharmaceutical logistics has been transformed even more dramatically. In 2019, only 59% of pharma shipments were temperature-controlled. By 2025, this had climbed to 90%, reflecting rising regulatory expectations and the growth of biologics and temperature-sensitive therapies.
“That tells us we are responding to what the industry needs,” Majeres said.
Live Animals and Regulatory Alignment
Regulatory harmonisation around sensitive cargo is accelerating. Brazil recently became the latest of 46 countries to formally adopt IATA’s Live Animals Regulations (LAR), strengthening global consistency in handling practices and animal welfare safeguards.
The trend underscores IATA’s broader push for aligned standards across special cargo categories—a requirement made more urgent by rapidly expanding cold-chain and pharma logistics.
Personalised Medicine: Air Cargo’s Most Demanding Frontier
Among the most operationally complex growth segments is personalised medicine, including cell and gene therapies. Unlike bulk pharma shipments, these rely on a single patient, single sample model and require:
- strict chain-of-identity controls
- real-time, 24/7 monitoring
- zero-margin delivery timelines
“We cannot just talk about being in time,” Majeres emphasised. “We have to be just in time. There is no second we can lose.”
As e-commerce accelerates and special cargo categories expand, the air cargo industry faces a dual challenge: managing unprecedented volume growth while meeting the precision, transparency, and temperature integrity demanded by the next generation of goods.
