Avocados, cherries, blueberries capsicums among the categories driving growth
Preparations for a new cargo precinct at Auckland Airport (AKL) have begun as New Zealand’s largest airport reported a rise in fresh fruit and vegetable airfreight volumes.
According to Auckland Airport overall, fruit and vegetable air freight was up 34 per cent over the summer period (1 December 2024 to 28 February 2025) compared to the previous year.
Avocados have been one of the major categories driving growth, AKL saw avocado air freight increase by 175 per cent on the previous summer, given the fruit had been so heavily impacted by severe weather in early 2023, impacting crops all the way into the summer of 2023/2024.
Between 1 December 2024 and 28 February 2025, more than 1,448 tonnes of avocados were exported from the airport in total, with the highest demand to destinations including Australia and markets in Asia including Thailand and Singapore.
Auckland Airport’s chief customer officer Scott Tasker said: “New Zealand growers compete on the international stage, and they’ve made themselves successful through quality and premium products.
“Time is of the essence with fresh produce and great air connections into key global markets means produce arriving in the best shape possible to command premium prices.”
North Island avocado company Avanza, exported over 550 tonnes of fruit over the summer and the company’s Steve Trickett said airfreight was a vital tool.
“For us, being able to reliably freight our great kiwi produce around the world means a lot. It must travel a long way to get anywhere. After we do the work on our side in the orchard and in the packing houses, we then rely on our cargo operators to get it around the globe safely and efficiently, so we can feed the world with our nutritious New Zealand fruit,” said Trickett.
Tasker said AKL saw an increase in volume across several categories over the summer including cherries, capsicums and blueberries.
There were 2,888 tonnes of cherries (up 53 per cent year on year) airfreighted to destinations including Greater China and Vietnam across the summer months, making it the top export item overall for summer in terms of tonnage.
Capsicums were the second largest seasonal produce item with 1,493 tonnes, mainly to destinations including Japan and Australia.
Tasker said blueberries were the fourth largest seasonal produce item freighted out of AKL (after avocados) with 935 tonnes, up 36 per cent on the previous year.
“With cherries from Cromwell to avocados from Katikati and citrus from the far North, connectivity is key to ensure local growers can tap markets in all corners of the globe,” he said.
AKL’s cargo operations are set to receive a boost from a new cargo precinct, located in Manu Tapu Drive, directly adjacent to the new 250,000m² airfield expansion.
“Cargo is a core part of the airport eco-system but currently, cargo and freight operators are spread out across the precinct from when it was set up in the late 1960s,” said Tasker.
“To make things more efficient, these operators will be progressively moving into a single cargo precinct. This new precinct will function more like a modern port.”
With airfield access including a purpose-built road leading straight from the cargo precinct onto the expanded airfield area, due to open later this year, the new precinct future-proofs AKL’s cargo capacity.
“The $30.7mn investment in the airport’s transport network has been key to enabling improved access to what will be a new cargo precinct. This provides cargo and freight operators with improved access into the cargo precinct, taking some of the incoming and outgoing cargo off the airport’s core roading network and prioritising customer journeys to the terminals,” Tasker added.
