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IATA highlights rise of Central Asia as "intercontinental bridge" for air cargo
June 2nd 2026
Cargo volumes through Central Asia countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have more than doubled since 2019, highlighting the growing role of the region in global air cargo flows, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said. Read More » Over the same period, air cargo volumes at Hong Kong - the world’s largest air cargo hub - had remained "broadly stable" and were down about 5% at Frankfurt, Europe’s largest cargo gateway. The fastest growing network in Central Asia was Uzbekistan, where inbound, outbound and direct transit air cargo volumes had risen 182% between 2019 and 2024. Kazakhstan, the largest cargo gateway in the region by volume, was up 149%. "Central Asia’s rise highlights how airspace constraints and the resulting network optimisation are redistributing traffic toward new intermediary corridors," the airline lobby group said. "The sharp rise in outbound volumes in 2024 also suggests that the region is evolving beyond simple technical stopovers toward more active connections and consolidation functions linking Europe and China."
