IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/transj/v64y2025i2ne70001.html

A Bibliometric Analysis of Air Cargo: Milestones, Trends, and Future Directions

Author

Listed:
  • Mehmet Gurturk
  • Erkan Celik

Abstract

Air cargo facilitates access to geographically challenging markets with minimal environmental impact. Despite global pandemics, crises, and wars, air cargo transport remains essential for people, even with decreasing demand. This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis in the air cargo sector. In this context, this study aims to define the milestones in the history of air cargo transport, the latest highlights and trends, and provide guidance for future research. The analysis period spans from 1956 to 2024. For this purpose, data from the Scopus database was analyzed using VOSviewer software. A tottal of 108 articles were examined through co‐citation analysis, revealing the formation of three clusters: Cluster 1 focused on Revenue Management, Cluster 2 on Network, and Cluster 3 on Capacity. Additionally, 215 articles were analyzed to identify the 10 most and least preferred author keywords. The study highlights the authors who will contribute to air cargo research. Most studies in the air cargo field were conducted in 2022, while most articles were published in 2009. The most studied countries include the United States (126), China (69), and Taiwan (57). Researchers are provided with practical implications regarding air cargo operations, management, cost reduction, innovation, technology, safety, and security.

Suggested Citation

  • Mehmet Gurturk & Erkan Celik, 2025. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Air Cargo: Milestones, Trends, and Future Directions," Transportation Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(2), April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:transj:v:64:y:2025:i:2:n:e70001
    DOI: 10.1002/tjo3.70001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/tjo3.70001
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/tjo3.70001?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ohashi, Hiroshi & Kim, Tae-Seung & Oum, Tae Hoon & Yu, Chunyan, 2005. "Choice of air cargo transshipment airport: an application to air cargo traffic to/from Northeast Asia," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 149-159.
    2. Sami Ur Rahman & Faisal Faisal & Adnan Ali, 2023. "Financial Development and Shadow Economy: A Bibliometric Analysis Using the Scopus Database (1985–2021)," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(3), pages 2238-2265, September.
    3. Chang, Yu-Hern & Chang, Yu-Wei, 2009. "Air cargo expansion and economic growth: Finding the empirical link," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 264-265.
    4. Donthu, Naveen & Kumar, Satish & Mukherjee, Debmalya & Pandey, Nitesh & Lim, Weng Marc, 2021. "How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-296.
    5. Matsumoto, Hidenobu, 2007. "International air network structures and air traffic density of world cities," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 269-282, May.
    6. Gerardo Berbeglia & Jean-François Cordeau & Irina Gribkovskaia & Gilbert Laporte, 2007. "Rejoinder on: Static pickup and delivery problems: a classification scheme and survey," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 15(1), pages 45-47, July.
    7. 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.
    8. Jan K. Brueckner, 2003. "Airline Traffic and Urban Economic Development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(8), pages 1455-1469, July.
    9. Li, Yanzhi & Tao, Yi & Wang, Fan, 2009. "A compromised large-scale neighborhood search heuristic for capacitated air cargo loading planning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 199(2), pages 553-560, December.
    10. Gudmundsson, S.V. & Cattaneo, M. & Redondi, R., 2021. "Forecasting temporal world recovery in air transport markets in the presence of large economic shocks: The case of COVID-19," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. 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.
    12. Kasarda, John D. & Green, Jonathan D., 2005. "Air cargo as an economic development engine: A note on opportunities and constraints," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(6), pages 459-462.
    13. Tang, Ching-Hui & Yan, Shangyao & Chen, Yu-Hsuan, 2008. "An integrated model and solution algorithms for passenger, cargo, and combi flight scheduling," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 1004-1024, November.
    14. Amaruchkul, Kannapha & Lorchirachoonkul, Vichit, 2011. "Air-cargo capacity allocation for multiple freight forwarders," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 30-40, January.
    15. Han, Dong Ling & Tang, Loon Ching & Huang, Huei Chuen, 2010. "A Markov model for single-leg air cargo revenue management under a bid-price policy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(3), pages 800-811, February.
    16. Hakim, Md Mahbubul & Merkert, Rico, 2016. "The causal relationship between air transport and economic growth: Empirical evidence from South Asia," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 120-127.
    17. 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).
    18. Gerardo Berbeglia & Jean-François Cordeau & Irina Gribkovskaia & Gilbert Laporte, 2007. "Static pickup and delivery problems: a classification scheme and survey," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 15(1), pages 1-31, July.
    19. Budd, Lucy & Ison, Stephen, 2017. "The role of dedicated freighter aircraft in the provision of global airfreight services," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 34-40.
    20. Kasilingam, R. G., 1997. "Air cargo revenue management: Characteristics and complexities," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 36-44, January.
    21. Feng, Bo & Li, Yanzhi & Shen, Huaxiao, 2015. "Tying mechanism for airlines’ air cargo capacity allocation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(1), pages 322-330.
    22. Mayer, Robert, 2016. "Airport classification based on cargo characteristics," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 53-65.
    23. Bischoff, Eberhard E. & Marriott, Michael D., 1990. "A comparative evaluation of heuristics for container loading," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 267-276, January.
    24. Jiajing Li & Yang Mao & Jingyi Ouyang & Shuanning Zheng, 2022. "A Review of Urban Microclimate Research Based on CiteSpace and VOSviewer Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-15, April.
    25. Masato Wada & Felipe Delgado & Bernardo K. Pagnoncelli, 2017. "A risk averse approach to the capacity allocation problem in the airline cargo industry," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(6), pages 643-651, June.
    26. Bowen, John T., 2012. "A spatial analysis of FedEx and UPS: hubs, spokes, and network structure," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 419-431.
    27. Kupfer, Franziska & Meersman, Hilde & Onghena, Evy & Van de Voorde, Eddy, 2017. "The underlying drivers and future development of air cargo," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 6-14.
    28. Boonekamp, Thijs & Burghouwt, Guillaume, 2017. "Measuring connectivity in the air freight industry," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 81-94.
    29. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2017. "Citation-based clustering of publications using CitNetExplorer and VOSviewer," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(2), pages 1053-1070, May.
    30. Zhang, Anming & Zhang, Yimin, 2002. "A model of air cargo liberalization: passenger vs. all-cargo carriers," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(3-4), pages 175-191, May.
    31. Chao, Ching-Cheng & Yu, Po-Cheng, 2013. "Quantitative evaluation model of air cargo competitiveness and comparative analysis of major Asia-Pacific airports," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 318-326.
    32. John Bowen & Thomas Leinbach, 2004. "Market Concentration In The Air Freight Forwarding Industry," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 95(2), pages 174-188, April.
    33. Chao, Ching-Cheng & Hsu, Ching-Wen, 2014. "Cost analysis of air cargo transport and effects of fluctuations in fuel price," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 51-56.
    34. Rong, Aiying & Grunow, Martin, 2009. "Shift designs for freight handling personnel at air cargo terminals," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 725-739, September.
    35. Assaf, A., 2009. "Accounting for size in efficiency comparisons of airports," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 256-258.
    36. Yves Nobert & Jacques Roy, 1998. "Freight Handling Personnel Scheduling at Air Cargo Terminals," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 295-301, August.
    37. Matsumoto, Hidenobu, 2004. "International urban systems and air passenger and cargo flows: some calculations," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 239-247.
    38. Henry Small, 2006. "Tracking and predicting growth areas in science," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 68(3), pages 595-610, September.
    39. Zhang, Yahua & Wang, Kun & Fu, Xiaowen, 2017. "Air transport services in regional Australia: Demand pattern, frequency choice and airport entry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 472-489.
    40. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    41. Pantelaki, Evangelia & Papatheodorou, Andreas, 2022. "Behind the scenes of glamour: A systematic literature review of the business aviation sector," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    42. 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.
    43. Tomaz Bartol & Gordana Budimir & Doris Dekleva-Smrekar & Miro Pusnik & Primoz Juznic, 2014. "Assessment of research fields in Scopus and Web of Science in the view of national research evaluation in Slovenia," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(2), pages 1491-1504, February.
    44. repec:plo:pone00:0201435 is not listed on IDEAS
    45. Xiao, Baichun & Yang, Wei, 2010. "A revenue management model for products with two capacity dimensions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 205(2), pages 412-421, September.
    46. Brandt, Felix & Nickel, Stefan, 2019. "The air cargo load planning problem - a consolidated problem definition and literature review on related problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(2), pages 399-410.
    47. Adenigbo, Joseph Adedotun, 2016. "Factors influencing cargo agents choice of operations in Abuja airport, Nigeria," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 113-119.
    48. S Limbourg & M Schyns & G Laporte, 2012. "Automatic aircraft cargo load planning," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 63(9), pages 1271-1283, September.
    49. Carman K.M. Lee & Shuzhu Zhang & Kam K.H. Ng, 2019. "Design of An Integration Model for Air Cargo Transportation Network Design and Flight Route Selection," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-12, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Srinivasan, Dhandabani & Amit, R.K. & Malik, Atul Kumar & Goh, Shao Hung, 2026. "Approximate dynamic programming-based thresholds for cargo capacity management considering postponements," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).

    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. He, Hang & Wu, Hanjun & Tsui, Kan Wai Hong & Wang, Biao & Fu, Xiaowen, 2024. "Spatiotemporal evolution of air cargo networks and its impact on economic development - An analysis of China's domestic market before and during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    2. 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).
    3. 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).
    4. Van Asch, Thomas & Dewulf, Wouter & Kupfer, Franziska & Cárdenas, Ivan & Van de Voorde, Eddy, 2020. "Cross-border e-commerce logistics – Strategic success factors for airports," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Puente-Mejia, Bernardo & Lange, Anne, 2025. "Characterizing global air cargo: A study profiling air cargo operations worldwide," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    6. Alexander, D.W. & Merkert, R., 2021. "Applications of gravity models to evaluate and forecast US international air freight markets post-GFC," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 52-62.
    7. 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.
    8. Yuen, Andrew & Zhang, Anming & Hui, Yer Van & Leung, Lawrence C. & Fung, Michael, 2017. "Is developing air cargo airports in the hinterland the way of the future?," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 15-25.
    9. Fageda, Xavier & Fioravanti, Reinaldo & Ricover, Andy & Café, Eduardo & Ansaldo, Mariano, 2023. "Econometric analysis of the determinants of air cargo services supply in Latin America and the Caribbean," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 33-44.
    10. 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).
    11. Zhang, Linfeng & Yang, Hangjun & Bian, Lei, 2025. "Complex network analysis of China's domestic air cargo network based on actual flight data," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 133-156.
    12. Fageda, Xavier & Gonzalez-Aregall, Marta, 2025. "Determinants of air cargo traffic in Europe: Intercontinental flights, competition and airlines’ business model," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    13. Lotti, Raoni & Caetano, Mauro, 2018. "The airport choice of exporters for fruit from Brazil," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 104-112.
    14. Wang, Yanzai & Hao, Chengzhi & Liu, Dawei, 2019. "The spatial and temporal dimensions of the interdependence between the airline industry and the Chinese economy," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 201-210.
    15. Hong, Seock-Jin & Randall, Wesley & Han, Keunsoo & Malhan, Amit Sundeep, 2018. "Estimation viability of dedicated freighter aircraft of combination carriers: A data envelopment and principal component analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 12-20.
    16. Gümüş Akar, Pınar, 2025. "The impact of air transportation on economic growth: Novel findings from the CS-ARDL model," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    17. Farshid Azadian, 2020. "Assessing the effect of urban socioeconomic factors and the financial crisis of 2008 on domestic air cargo traffic in Florida," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 223-241, February.
    18. Gizem Kaya & Umut Aydın & Burç Ülengin, 2023. "A Comparison of Forecasting Performance of PPML and OLS estimators: The Gravity Model in the Air Cargo Market," EKOIST Journal of Econometrics and Statistics, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(39), pages 112-128, December.
    19. Alkaabi, Khaula A. & Debbage, Keith G., 2011. "The geography of air freight: connections to U.S. metropolitan economies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1517-1529.
    20. Jacek Ryczyński & Artur Kierzkowski & Anna Jodejko-Pietruczuk, 2024. "Air Cargo Handling System Assessment Model: A Hybrid Approach Based on Reliability Theory and Fuzzy Logic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-22, November.

    More about this item

    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:wly:transj:v:64:y:2025:i:2:n:e70001. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.