Frankfurt Airport moved 174,773 metric tons of cargo in September, a 2.5 percent year-on-year increase that masks sharply divergent trade lanes: North America traffic up 8 percent while Hong Kong volumes fell 7.4 percent. The German hub's growth story is increasingly a belly hold story, with tonnage in passenger aircraft rising 6.6 percent to 72,500 tons while freighter loads stayed flat at 102,200 tons, down 0.2 percent.

The figures, published by airport operator Fraport, point to a market where capacity is migrating from dedicated freighters into passenger bellies — a shift with direct cost implications for forwarders who have built European airfreight programs around freighter slots.

Loadings across the airport grew 7 percent to 86,900 tons; unloadings slipped 2.4 percent to 83,700 tons. Aircraft movements fell 3.5 percent to 40,539, driven mainly by a 25.2 percent cut in domestic German flights after services to Bremen and Stuttgart were suspended. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights contracted 1.2 percent to roughly 2.5 million metric tons.

What is driving the US surge?

North America carried the month. Traffic with the United States rose 8 percent and Canada added 1 percent. Outbound loadings were the standout: 18.5 percent growth to the US and 5.7 percent to Canada, while unloadings from both markets declined. Both transport modes contributed — belly hold cargo up 7 percent and freighter cargo up 7.4 percent on transatlantic lanes.

Fraport linked the performance to a favorable market environment, with global industry and trade indicators showing rising production, increasing export orders and robust demand, particularly in the USA. For carriers, the combination of strong outbound US loadings and falling inbound tonnage suggests a widening directional imbalance that will pressure backhaul rates out of America.

Why are China and Hong Kong down?

Far East traffic grew 3.2 percent overall, but the headline conceals a policy-driven slump in the hub's two largest import markets. China fell 1.8 percent and Hong Kong dropped 7.4 percent. Fraport attributed the decline chiefly to the abolition of the EUR 150 customs exemption threshold in July and falling e-commerce shipments.

The e-commerce effect shows up clearly in the mode split on Far East routes. Freighter tonnage there slipped 0.4 percent while belly hold cargo jumped 12.3 percent, supported partly by additional passenger services to China. Other Asian markets grew strongly: India up 14.9 percent, Taiwan up 19.3 percent, Japan up 11.2 percent and South Korea up 3.2 percent.

Elsewhere on intercontinental lanes, Africa surged 22 percent and Latin America 20.5 percent, with Mexico the single fastest-growing market at 37.7 percent. South Africa and Kenya benefited from added belly capacity. The Middle East was the outlier, down 16.3 percent on continued flight-capacity reductions.

What does the freighter pullback mean?

Continental traffic declined 10 percent, largely because Lufthasa Cargo discontinued its A321P2F network — a reminder that short-haul European freighter capacity can disappear quickly when an operator re-fleets. Combined with the freighter-to-belly shift on Asian routes, September's data shows Frankfurt's cargo growth resting almost entirely on passenger-network expansion rather than dedicated freighter capacity.

For shippers, that means growing exposure to belly capacity availability on specific passenger routes — such as the new China services — rather than the schedule stability of freighter programs. With US demand robust and EU customs changes still working through e-commerce supply chains, Frankfurt's October figures will test whether belly-led growth can hold as freighter capacity flatlines.