Airfreight volumes at Singapore Changi Airport grew by 1.4% in 2018 despite demand slowing down at the end of the year.

The airport handled 2.15 million tonnes in 2018, with growth in all segments – exports, imports and transhipments.

For the year, the top airfreight markets were China, Australia, Hong Kong, the US and India.

The strong annual growth came despite volumes in December falling by 3.8% to 182,000 tonnes, which had followed a negative month in November, when airfreight was down 1.3% year-on-year to 189,000 tonnes.

Changi welcomed new airlines in 2018, with Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Shandong Airlines all starting services.

Seven new city links were established, to Nanchang in China, Berlin in Germany, to the Indian cities of Guwahati, Pune and Vijayawada, Belitung in Indonesia and Warsaw in Poland.

Qantas also re-established its Singapore-London service and Lufthansa resumed operations to Munich.