The Role of Air Transport in Handling the Polish Foreign Trade Contra Worldwide Trends

Abstract

Apart from maritime transport, air transport is the main transport branch suppor­ting the international merchandise trade, especially on the long-range distance. Air cargo represents 0,25% to 1% of the weight of all international cargo. At the same time, air freight transport is responsible for approximately 13% to 35% of the total value of global trade and its share is rising. Compared to the alternative modes of transport, this transport branch has a margi­nal importance in handling the Polish foreign trade. In terms of weight, air transport is responsible for less than O, 1 % of the total volume of the Polish foreign trade in exports and imports (according to the data for 2013). As regards value, its share is increasing to nearly 4 %. However, over the past few years there has been a noticeably steady growth in the international air cargo from/to Poland. This article aims at determining the importance and identifying the development barriers of air transport in handling the Polish foreign trade.

Keywords

• air cargo transport
• international trade
• Polish foreign trade