Sheremetyevo International airport handled approximately 205,000 tonnes of cargo and 21,500 tonnes of mail in the first nine months of 2020, retaining its position as the largest air cargo hub in Russia and is the leader in cargo traffic among the Moscow Air Transportation Cluster airports with a 70.8% share.
Moscow Cargo LLC handled 50% more imported medical cargo from April to September than during the same period in 2019.
These volumes were achieved despite a significant reduction in routes and a decrease in the number of passenger flights associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Total cargo volume through Sheremetyevo decreased by 12.4% during the first nine months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. At the same time, owing to the decrease in international cargo transportation in that period (-16.8% compared to the previous year), while the volume of domestic flights remained at the level of 2019 (+ 0.3%).
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the bulk of cargo at Sheremetyevo Airport was carried on passenger flights, with cargo airlines handling about 30%. With the decrease in passenger traffic, more than 70% of the airport’s cargo turnover in the second and third quarters of 2020 was from cargo flights and cargo-only flights. The airport was able to offset the decrease in the number of international passenger flights by interacting effectively with cargo existing carriers and attracting new airlines operating cargo charter flights.
The flow of international transfer cargo via passenger aircraft decreased by 62.8% in the first nine months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, while the volume of imports on international airlines increased by 14.9%. This was primarily due to an increase in the volume of medical goods delivered to Russia. From April through September, Moscow Cargo handled about 12,000 tonnes of imported medical cargo, 1.5 times more than for the same period last year. The volume of exports increased by 1.5% in the first nine months of 2020 compared to 2019.
Domestic airlines experienced a 16.8% decrease in transfer traffic, while imports on domestic carriers increased by 18.6%. The volume of export cargo on domestic airlines remained at the level of 2019.
The main international destinations, which accounted for about half of the total cargo traffic, were Germany, China, the Netherlands, South Korea and the USA.
The main domestic cargo destinations were the Far East cities of Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, as well as Krasnoyarsk.
The largest volume of export and transit cargo transportation in the third quarter was for Frankfurt (FRA), Shanghai (PVG), Vladivostok (VVO), Khabarovsk (KHV) and Amsterdam (AMS).
The largest volume of import and transit cargo transportation in the third quarter was recorded for Shanghai (PVG), Frankfurt (FRA), Beijing (PEK), Hong Kong (HKG) and Chicago (ORD).
