Kuehne+Nagel air cargo volumes rise 7% in 2025

Kuehne+Nagel maintained its number one position in the global air freight market in 2025, increasing volumes by 7% year on year to 2.24 million tonnes despite volatile market conditions and a weaker economic environment.

Air logistics volumes rose by 146,000 tonnes compared to 2024, reaching a total of 2,238,000 tonnes. Demand remained unstable for much of the year following the introduction of trade tariffs, but strengthened in the final quarter. The company said this was driven by strong demand for airfreight capacity out of Asia from AI infrastructure developers.

Air logistics turnover increased to CHF 8 billion(US$ 10.2 billion) in 2025 from CHF 7.77 billion(US$ 9.94 billion) in 2024. Net turnover stood at CHF 7.34 billion(US$ 9.39 billion), slightly higher than CHF 7.31 billion(US$ 9.35 billion) a year earlier.

Gross profit in the air freight business totalled CHF 1.74 billion(US$ 2.22 billion), compared with CHF 1.75 billion( US$ 2.24 billion) in 2024. Freight rates declined by 3.8 per cent to CHF 358(US$462.31) per 100kg, down from CHF 372(US$472.56) in the previous year. EBITDA fell to CHF 493 million(US$ 630.82 million) from CHF 543 million(US$ 694.96 million) , while EBIT decreased by 10.3 per cent to CHF 429 million(US$ 548.60 million) from CHF 478 million(US$ 611.25 million) in 2024. The EBIT to gross profit ratio declined to 24.7 per cent from 27.3 per cent.

Exchange rate fluctuations had a negative impact of CHF 78 million(US$ 99.74 million) on gross profit and CHF 22 million(US$ 28.13 million) on EBIT in the Air Logistics unit.

Stefan Paul, CEO of Kuehne + Nagel International AG, said “In a year marked by a deteriorating economic environment, we continued to deliver growth through the consistent execution of our strategy. As a logistics partner to global cloud and server infrastructure providers, we gained significant market share in Air Logistics contributing to our unchanged global No. 1 positions in both the sea and air freight markets on a volume basis.

“The accelerated deployment of AI, built upon our established global networks and proprietary technology, will be a key strategic pillar with material productivity gains expected over the next 18 months.”

The Air Logistics unit employed 11,049 operating staff at the end of 2025, compared with 10,637 a year earlier.

For 2026, the group expects a recurring EBIT result in the range of CHF 1.2 billion(US$ 1.53 billion) to CHF 1.4 billion(US$1.79 billion).