For the second straight year, Dubai-based Emirates reigned as the champions of scheduled international airfreight tonnage, with 2.29 million tonnes carried on the main decks of its freighters and in the belly holds of its vast passenger fleet, according to Air Cargo World's annual Top 50 Air Cargo Carriers.

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Even as North America is getting up to speed economically, a cyclical slowdown in emerging markets is squelching the prospects for significant advances in the global airfreight market, according to the Airports Council International half-year report. The council also predicted limited global growth for the remainder of 2015. Airfreight volume worldwide grew in June at 2.1 percent, year-over-year, with domestic traffic increasing 4.8 percent, yet international freight volume only increased 0.9 percent.