Airport triples landed cargo weight in five years; further grows passenger service.
The Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD) announced its continually growing cargo and passenger numbers from 2019, making it the largest year-to-date numbers in both areas.
Cargo Growth Continues to Set New Records
In 2019, cargo numbers grew almost 11 percent over 2018 with more than 2.3 billion pounds of cargo traveling through the airport. In comparison, 2018 cargo numbers were at 2.1 billion pounds and 2017 marked 1.4 billion pounds of cargo which traveled through RFD. The 2019 increase is in addition to the 55 percent increase netted in 2018. In just five years, RFD has tripled the amount of cargo landing in Rockford.
RFD is home to the second largest UPS hub in North America, which continues to increase its daily cargo flights. The airport also serves other leaders in the air cargo industry, including ABX Air, ATI, and Atlas Air. With the airport’s recent cargo expansions and additional flights announced by Amazon Prime and other Amazon carriers, Rockford is quickly becoming a Midwest hub for e-commerce freight.
“We continue to see the cargo numbers increase due to the partnerships RFD has secured and nurtured throughout the past several years,” said Mike Dunn, Executive Director at RFD. “In addition to our larger partners, we’ve been able to secure several additional organizations which further impacts our region’s job growth and economic development.”
In July 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration released its calendar year 2018 all-cargo data which ranked RFD as the 19th largest cargo airport in the nation, with growth of almost 55 percent year-over-year. RFD was the only Illinois-based airport which grew its cargo operations.
Additionally, in September 2019, Airports Council International (ACI) named RFD as the fastest-growing cargo airport in the world for 2018 for airports that handled more than 250,000 metric tons of air cargo.
RFD’s cargo success has also had a huge economic impact for the Rockford region. Nearly 2,000 jobs were created last year. Jobs included both permanent and seasonal positions through new and existing tenants as well as construction-related jobs to support the growth. The airport expects to see an additional 1,000 jobs added throughout 2020.
