Pakistan announces new air cargo charges, commodities face 25-100% increase

Dubai: The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) has announced new revised prices for their air cargo throughput charges (or CTC) rates, that have gone into effect since July 1. The recommended increases start at 25% and go up to 100% for some goods.

The new prices were determined at the latest PAA Executive Committee meeting, where the organisation highlighted eight total commodities that would face an increase in CTC rates.

Here’s a breakdown of the new charges.

In the report, one of the main commodities is general cargo, distinguished by two separate sub categories, AFU (Air Freight Unit) and ICG (Immediate Clearance Group).

The first category, AFU general cargo is the most common commodity category. It’s facing a 30% increase, from PKR 50 per kg, to PKR 65 per kg.

The latter, ICG general cargo, is the second most common commodity category behind AFU, comprising of goods like lifesaving drugs. This category is increasing by 25%, raising the price from PKR 100 to PKR 125 per kg. However, it is important to note that ICG cargo is facing the lowest charge differences in all of the categories.

All other remaining categories are facing a 50% increase.

This includes unaccompanied baggage and trans-shipments that are increasing from PKR 10 per kg to PKR 15. Whereas, dangerous goods, live domestic birds, and pets/animals category are changing from PKR 200 to PKR 300 per kg. Notably, despite being listed as luxuries, the animal categories are in fact not the category with the highest change in air cargo rates.

The commodity facing the highest increase is paan, or betel leaf. Previously priced at PKR 35 per kg, will now be charged at PKR 70.

The sudden rate increases are a reflection of the multiple ongoing crises both regionally and globally that are affecting factors like fuel prices, trade routes, and more. This in turn impacts operation costs for airports, resulting in the CTC rate hikes.

Pakistan has seen an uptick in revenues from CTC earnings. In fact, Islamabad International Airport reported a record Rs. 72.3 million from CTC earnings in March 2025. It was the highest recorded revenue since November 2021.

“The introduction of regular, high-capacity cargo operations by SF Cargo has brought a welcome boost to our revenue and has reaffirmed Islamabad Airport’s strategic importance as a regional logistics hub,” according to a PAA spokesperson, as reported by the Associated Press of Pakistan.