Air cargo played a central role in sustaining global trade and economic growth in 2025, according to a new IATA report, which says the industry helped businesses absorb tariff shocks and adapt to one of the most uncertain trade environments in recent years.
The report, released during IATA’s World Cargo Symposium in Lima, describes 2025 as a year marked by severe trade policy uncertainty. In response, companies around the world relied on two main strategies: accelerating shipments to the United States ahead of tariff changes and redirecting trade flows toward alternative markets.
According to IATA, air cargo was essential to both.
The association said the industry supported $157 billion in frontloaded U.S. imports during the first quarter of 2025 and helped facilitate the rapid opening and expansion of new trade lanes. As a result, global trade grew by 2.4%, significantly outperforming the expectations many international institutions had set in spring 2025.
That resilience in trade also contributed to global GDP growth of 3.2% despite difficult economic and political conditions.
Julia Seiermann, IATA’s head of industry analysis, said the figures confirm that air cargo has become a structural element of global economic resilience.
She said that in 2025 the industry helped companies manage tariff shocks, rapidly reorganise supply chains and support rising AI-related investment, all of which helped sustain both trade and growth.
Frontloading became a major feature of the market as companies moved quickly to avoid the impact of expected tariff increases. Average applied U.S. tariff rates rose to around 17% in 2025, their highest level since the 1930s, while policy shifts in Washington and rising international trade friction added to uncertainty.
IATA said that in the first quarter alone, U.S. imports increased by $193 billion year on year, equivalent to a 26% rise. Most of that jump moved by air. The value of U.S. imports transported by air rose 81% year on year to $157 billion, representing 82% of the total increase recorded during the quarter.
At the same time, companies began restructuring sourcing and distribution strategies to reduce tariff exposure. U.S. importers shifted purchases away from more heavily tariff-affected partners, while exporters redirected cargo toward other destinations, especially in Europe.
IATA said this clearly demonstrated the unique ability of air cargo to reallocate high-value and time-sensitive trade flows quickly in response to policy disruptions.
Between April and December 2025, the benefits from expanding trade lanes outweighed the negative impact of lanes that contracted.
Another major growth driver last year was artificial intelligence.
IATA said investment in AI-related technologies surged in 2025, with AI-focused companies posting strong stock market performances and the sector becoming a broader contributor to economic growth. Trade in AI-related goods reached almost $4 trillion, exceeding the GDP of countries such as France and Italy.
Air cargo played a central role in moving this traffic. According to IATA, more than two-thirds of the value of AI-related trade was carried by air last year. Shipments of AI-related goods rose 20% year on year, and these products accounted for 53.5% of the total value of air-transported trade while representing only 7% of its volume.
The goods moved included high-value, time-sensitive products such as servers, data storage units and memory chips, all critical to the expansion of data centers and AI infrastructure.
Seiermann said the rapid increase in demand for AI-related products could only translate into real economic activity because air cargo was able to move those goods efficiently and reliably.
IATA concludes that without air cargo, frontloading would have been much more limited, trade restructuring slower and costlier, and AI-related investment more vulnerable to supply bottlenecks.
In that scenario, the association argues, global trade growth would likely have been weaker, inflationary pressure higher and GDP growth lower.
