IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v125y2025ics0969699725000419.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The nexus between air cargo and international trade: Empirical evidence from country groups

Author

Listed:
  • Kiracı, Kasım

Abstract

Air cargo transportation is one of the most important transportation modes when the value of goods is taken into consideration. However, the relationship between air cargo transportation and international trade has been neglected. This study contributes to the literature by focusing on the relationship between these variables in a large country sample group. The aim of this study is to examine the multidimensional relationship between air freight transportation and international trade. In the study, international trade (ME) and air cargo (AC) data for 127 countries are analysed for the period 2000–2021. In the study, cointegration tests and short and long run causality tests were used to identify the relationship between variables. Pedroni cointegration test results indicate that AC may have an impact on ME in the long run. In addition, according to the results of the study, the effect of ME on AC is significant in the short run. Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) panel Granger causality test results find evidence of homogeneous bidirectional causality from AC to ME and from ME to AC. In country-by-country analyses, there is causality from ME to AC in 7 countries from Africa, 7 from Asia, 2 from Europe, 2 from Europe, 9 from the Americas and 2 from the Middle East. Causality towards ME was statistically detected in 9 countries from Africa, 8 from Asia, 10 from Europe, 3 from America and 2 from the Middle East. Bidirectional causality is found in 3 countries from Africa, 2 from Asia, 2 from Europe, 2 from Europe, 3 from America and 1 from the Middle East.

Suggested Citation

  • Kiracı, Kasım, 2025. "The nexus between air cargo and international trade: Empirical evidence from country groups," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:125:y:2025:i:c:s0969699725000419
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2025.102778
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699725000419
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2025.102778?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ali, Rafaqet & Bakhsh, Khuda & Yasin, Muhammad Asim, 2023. "Causal nexus between air transportation and economic growth in BRICS countries," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Md Abu Hasan, 2019. "Does globalization accelerate economic growth? South Asian experience using panel data," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Pedroni, Peter, 2004. "Panel Cointegration: Asymptotic And Finite Sample Properties Of Pooled Time Series Tests With An Application To The Ppp Hypothesis," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 597-625, June.
    4. Alexander, David W. & Merkert, Rico, 2017. "Challenges to domestic air freight in Australia: Evaluating air traffic markets with gravity modelling," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 41-52.
    5. John R. Bartle & Rebecca K. Lutte & Deniz Zeynep Leuenberger, 2021. "Sustainability and Air Freight Transportation: Lessons from the Global Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-13, March.
    6. Dumitrescu, Elena-Ivona & Hurlin, Christophe, 2012. "Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 1450-1460.
    7. Jun Zhou & Liang Leng & Quan Yuan & Xiaofa Shi, 2022. "Does Air Cargo Matter in Chinese Regional Economic Development? An Empirical Granger Causality Test," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-22, August.
    8. Yakath Ali, Nurul Syuhadah & Yu, Chunyan & See, Kok Fong, 2021. "Four decades of airline productivity and efficiency studies: A review and bibliometric analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    9. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    10. Carbo, Jose M. & Graham, Daniel J., 2020. "Quantifying the impacts of air transportation on economic productivity: a quasi-experimental causal analysis," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    11. Yamaguchi, Katsuhiro, 2008. "International trade and air cargo: Analysis of US export and air transport policy," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 653-663, July.
    12. Peter Pedroni, 1999. "Critical Values for Cointegration Tests in Heterogeneous Panels with Multiple Regressors," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 653-670, November.
    13. Choi, In, 2001. "Unit root tests for panel data," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 249-272, April.
    14. Tugcu, Can Tansel, 2014. "Tourism and economic growth nexus revisited: A panel causality analysis for the case of the Mediterranean Region," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 207-212.
    15. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2010. "Coal consumption and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1353-1359, March.
    16. Yetkiner, Hakan & Beyzatlar, Mehmet Aldonat, 2020. "The Granger-causality between wealth and transportation: A panel data approach," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 19-25.
    17. Marazzo, Marcial & Scherre, Rafael & Fernandes, Elton, 2010. "Air transport demand and economic growth in Brazil: A time series analysis," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 261-269, March.
    18. Kenneth Button & Junyang Yuan, 2013. "Airfreight Transport and Economic Development: An Examination of Causality," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(2), pages 329-340, February.
    19. Mahadevan, Renuka & Asafu-Adjaye, John, 2007. "Energy consumption, economic growth and prices: A reassessment using panel VECM for developed and developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2481-2490, April.
    20. Kaddour Hadri, 2000. "Testing for stationarity in heterogeneous panel data," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 3(2), pages 148-161.
    21. Fangni Zhang & Daniel J. Graham, 2020. "Air transport and economic growth: a review of the impact mechanism and causal relationships," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 506-528, July.
    22. Walcott, Susan M. & Fan, Zhang, 2017. "Comparison of major air freight network hubs in the U.S. and China," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 64-72.
    23. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2007. "A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 265-312.
    24. repec:bla:obuest:v:61:y:1999:i:0:p:653-70 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Wang, Sen & Gao, Yi, 2021. "A literature review and citation analyses of air travel demand studies published between 2010 and 2020," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    26. Geloso Grosso, Massimo & Shepherd, Ben, 2011. "Air cargo transport in APEC: Regulation and effects on merchandise trade," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 203-212, June.
    27. Gelhausen, Marc C. & Berster, Peter & Wilken, Dieter, 2018. "A new direct demand model of long-term forecasting air passengers and air transport movements at German airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 140-152.
    28. Kaya, Gizem & Aydın, Umut, 2024. "The nexus between air transport and economic growth geographically: An evidence based on heterogeneous panel data models," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    29. Md. Saiful Islam, 2020. "Human Capital and Per Capita Income Linkage in South Asia: A Heterogeneous Dynamic Panel Analysis," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(4), pages 1614-1629, December.
    30. Yu, Shunan & Yang, Zhongzhen & Zhang, Wei, 2019. "Differential pricing strategies of air freight transport carriers in the spot market," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 9-15.
    31. Gong, Qiang & Wang, Kun & Fan, Xingli & Fu, Xiaowen & Xiao, Yi-bin, 2018. "International trade drivers and freight network analysis - The case of the Chinese air cargo sector," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 253-262.
    32. Liu, Ke & Fu, Qiang, 2024. "How does geopolitical risk affect international freight?," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    33. Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente & Oana Madalina Driha & Festus Victor Bekun & Festus Fatai Adedoyin, 2021. "The asymmetric impact of air transport on economic growth in Spain: fresh evidence from the tourism-led growth hypothesis," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 503-519, February.
    34. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2010. "Renewable energy consumption and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 656-660, January.
    35. Akinyemi, Yingigba Chioma, 2023. "Air cargo demand in Africa: Application of cointegration and error correction modelling techniques," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    36. Boonekamp, Thijs & Burghouwt, Guillaume, 2017. "Measuring connectivity in the air freight industry," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 81-94.
    37. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2009. "Energy consumption and economic growth in Central America: Evidence from a panel cointegration and error correction model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 211-216.
    38. Chi, Junwook & Baek, Jungho, 2013. "Dynamic relationship between air transport demand and economic growth in the United States: A new look," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 257-260.
    39. Hong, Seock-Jin & Kim, Woongyi & Hiatt, Brian, 2025. "Examining airport agility at air cargo hub airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    40. Tanrıverdi, Gökhan & Bakır, Mahmut & Merkert, Rico, 2020. "What can we learn from the JATM literature for the future of aviation post Covid-19? - A bibliometric and visualization analysis," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    41. Bakır, Mahmut & Özdemir, Emircan & Akan, Şahap & Atalık, Özlem, 2022. "A bibliometric analysis of airport service quality," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    42. Nguyen, Quang Hai, 2024. "Modeling the volatility of international air freight: A case study of Singapore using the SARIMAX-EGARCH model," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    43. Tolcha, Tassew Dufera & Bråthen, Svein & Holmgren, Johan, 2020. "Air transport demand and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa: Direction of causality," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    44. Koçak, Emrah & Şarkgüneşi, Aykut, 2017. "The renewable energy and economic growth nexus in Black Sea and Balkan countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 51-57.
    45. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hamit-Haggar, Mahamat, 2012. "Greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and economic growth: A panel cointegration analysis from Canadian industrial sector perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 358-364.
    2. Jos Alberto Fuinhas & Ant nio Cardoso Marques & Alcino Pinto Couto, 2015. "Oil-Growth Nexus in Oil Producing Countries: Macro Panel Evidence," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 5(1), pages 148-163.
    3. Muhammad Bilal Khan & Hummera Saleem & Malik Shahzad Shabbir & Xie Huobao, 2022. "The effects of globalization, energy consumption and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in South Asian countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 33(1), pages 107-134, February.
    4. Eggoh, Jude C. & Bangake, Chrysost & Rault, Christophe, 2011. "Energy consumption and economic growth revisited in African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 7408-7421.
    5. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2010. "Natural gas consumption and economic growth: A panel investigation of 67 countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(8), pages 2759-2763, August.
    6. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2010. "Renewable energy consumption and growth in Eurasia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1392-1397, November.
    7. Kahia, Montassar & Ben Aissa, Mohamed Safouane, 2014. "Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth: Evidence from MENA Net Oil Exporting Countries," MPRA Paper 80776, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Tomas Vlcek & Martin Jirusek & James Henderson, 2015. "Risk Assessment in Construction Process in Nuclear Sector within the Central and Eastern Europe," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 5(2), pages 482-493.
    9. Ohler, Adrienne & Fetters, Ian, 2014. "The causal relationship between renewable electricity generation and GDP growth: A study of energy sources," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 125-139.
    10. Kaya, Gizem & Aydın, Umut, 2024. "The nexus between air transport and economic growth geographically: An evidence based on heterogeneous panel data models," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    11. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2011. "The renewable energy consumption-growth nexus in Central America," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 343-347, January.
    12. Francisco García-Lillo & Eduardo Sánchez-García & Bartolomé Marco-Lajara & Pedro Seva-Larrosa, 2023. "Renewable Energies and Sustainable Development: A Bibliometric Overview," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2009. "Energy consumption and economic growth: Evidence from the Commonwealth of Independent States," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 641-647, September.
    14. Fang, Zheng & Chen, Yang, 2017. "Human capital, energy, and economic development – Evidence from Chinese provincial data," RIEI Working Papers 2017-03, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Research Institute for Economic Integration.
    15. Nguyen, Kim Hanh & Kakinaka, Makoto, 2019. "Renewable energy consumption, carbon emissions, and development stages: Some evidence from panel cointegration analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1049-1057.
    16. Taeyoung Jin & Jinsoo Kim, 2018. "Coal Consumption and Economic Growth: Panel Cointegration and Causality Evidence from OECD and Non-OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    17. Hasanov, Fakhri & Bulut, Cihan & Suleymanov, Elchin, 2017. "Review of energy-growth nexus: A panel analysis for ten Eurasian oil exporting countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 369-386.
    18. Dedeoğlu, Dinçer & Kaya, Hüseyin, 2013. "Energy use, exports, imports and GDP: New evidence from the OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 469-476.
    19. Dogan, Eyup & Seker, Fahri, 2016. "Determinants of CO2 emissions in the European Union: The role of renewable and non-renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 429-439.
    20. Herrerias, M.J. & Joyeux, R. & Girardin, E., 2013. "Short- and long-run causality between energy consumption and economic growth: Evidence across regions in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1483-1492.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:125:y:2025:i:c:s0969699725000419. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.