Air cargo in Poland
Air freight is the fastest growing form of cargo transport worldwide. Despite the handbrake pulled in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the biggest crisis in the history of the aviation industry (for many months air traffic was practically stopped and airline losses that could total nearly 140 billion dollars (IATA – International Air Transport Association report), the industry is recovering quickly.
The global freight forwarding market rebounded in 2021, with a year-on-year growth of 11.2 percent. This made last year’s growth the fastest since 2011 (data from a report by Transport Intelligence (TI) and this trend should continue in the coming years.
In Poland, too, we have been learning for several years that fast delivery and security of the shipment are a priority. At the same time, we notice that the market and consumer habits have long exceeded national borders, which results in an increase in cross-border online shopping – also an increase in Polish export. Hence, on the one hand, we observe an increase in demand for cargo services from Poland, but on the other hand, we are lagging far behind when it comes to Polish airports.
Currently, only a few Polish airports have adequate cargo infrastructure.
It is developing primarily in Warsaw, Katowice and Gdańsk (these three ports had a 98% share in the total transshipment of goods in air transport in Poland in 2021), joined by Rzeszów, Wrocław and Jesionka.
PwC predicts that in 2026 the gross value of the Polish e-commerce market will be PLN 162 billion. This means an average annual growth of 12%. The fastest growth will be in the sales of food products and in the health and beauty category, and the entire movement translates into a change in the nature of shipments from pallets to general cargo. (…) ports must expand, because it is already clear from the recent period that this market will develop. This means that they must increase their processing capacity, throughput, and they will certainly also have to employ staff – predicts Dr. Paweł Zagrajek, a specialist from the Department of Business in Transport at the Warsaw School of Economics.
And although there is a chance – after meeting certain conditions – for the Polish air transport industry to become more involved in the European logistics chain, it seems that the main problem today is the lack of a coherent concept for its development on a national scale. In particular, there is no answer to the question: in what direction should the cargo infrastructure be developed – centrally or also regionally?
The most popular destinations for Polish air freight forwarding include Asia and both Americas, as well as the USA, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, the Arabian Peninsula and Israel, while the growing online trade suggests that the air freight industry in Poland still has its heyday ahead of it.
