Where has all the cargo gone ..... easy answer in the vast majority it has gone on to container ships.
You are correct the economic downturn did affect cargo overall and what happened is exporters and importers realised had much more cost effective it is to ship by sea than air, so they increased their lead times to allow for movement by sea.
The economy has improved but many shippers that I deal with have now realised that they are saving a lot of money by using containers rather than flying their freight so continue to try and plan so they can ship that way.
I am not denying your assertion that certain airports, EMA being a prime example do concentrate more on freight and that works for them. You also have to remember that for the integrators such as DHL, UPS et al EMA is well positioned centrally with a direct link to the motorway network.