Macroeconomic factors affecting performance in air cargo transportation: The European case

Air cargo transportation is one of the significant industries that constitutes a substantial share of global trade volume, generating economic and social benefits.The success of this industry, which involves multiple actors with different roles, depends on the performance of market players internally, as well as being closely related to external factors and macroeconomic indicators. This study aims to examine the effects of macroeconomic variables that drive the performance of the air cargo transportation industry. For this purpose, the development of air cargo and air cargo transportation is first conceptually expressed, and then the indicators used for performance evaluation specific to the sector in air cargo transportation are examined. In the application section of the study, the relationship between air cargo performance and macroeconomic indicators in the countries with the most intensive air cargo transportation in Europe is analyzed using panel data analysis. According to the research results, a 1% increase in economic growth positively affects air cargo transportation by 0.619% in the short term, while population growth positively affects air cargo transportation by 1.206%. While foreign trade volume negatively affects air cargo volume in the short term for the examined countries, it positively affects it in the long term. While direct foreign investment does not have a significant effect on air cargo transportation across the examined countries, the number of departures from airports positively affects air cargo traffic in all periods. Considering that the macro variables affecting demand in airline passenger transportation have been more extensively examined in the literature, but there are few studies that investigate the short and long-term results on air cargo transportation while considering differences between countries, this study is expected to contribute to the literature.