airfreight

2023 was a tumultuous year for airfreight. The downturn in business put pressure on the industry, but the year ended with some optimism.

Air cargo demand has picked up after a long slide, but the busy season leading up to the holidays has been disappointing by historical standards.

The air cargo sector was banking on a turnaround in market conditions by this fall, but it might have to wait until late next year unless demand unexpectedly revives.

The decline of air cargo is less severe than earlier this year, but a bearish case for a counter-seasonal, second-half dip is gaining momentum as freight forwarders undercut each other on prices to win customers.

Amid waning revenue, Amerijet is laying off 15 workers after signing an expensive contract with its pilots.

Recovery from the recession in airfreight transportation looks like it will be drawn out over the next year — and very slight when it does happen.

Shipco Transport pairs strong company values with deep expertise and broad coverage to deliver concrete results to its forwarder customers.

Kuehne + Nagel had a highly profitable year in 2022 despite macroeconomic headwinds, but results fell considerably in the fourth quarter along with transport demand.

Business is very soft in the air cargo sector and likely to get softer still, but there are signs that demand could spark up in the second half of the year.

Port X Logistics has made a name for itself in drayage, expediting containerized freight throughout the U.S. and Canada. Now the company has brought its expertise into the airfreight arena.

Good news for shippers is bad news for airlines as cargo demand and rates retreat again in October.

Record results by the cargo division pulled Deutsche Lufthansa AG to profit in the second quarter for the first time since the COVID crisis began, underscoring how moving goods has […]

Qatar Airways posted record profit and strong cargo business for the fiscal year 2021-22.

Companies rely on a wide variety of partners to handle their invoice auditing, including brokers and third-party freight pay companies. This approach can be risky, as these folks are not typically invoice audit experts, increasing the chance that inconsistencies and other issues will slip through the cracks.

China Airlines has 21 freighter aircraft in its fleet and is adding capacity to meet trans-Pacific demand.

Passenger airlines are limping back to health, but the air cargo sector is on fire.

Family comes first for Lionel van der Walt, who has left PayCargo.

New financiers are backing a major fleet expansion at Mexican cargo carrier MasAir.

Among the major U.S. passenger carriers, United Airlines was the big winner in cargo performance during 2021.

Aeronautical Engineering takes used planes and turns them into cargo configuration. More countries are approving a new design for its 737-800 freighter.

Freightos is expanding its North American air cargo customer base with the acquisition of 7L Freight.

Delta Air Lines is on the path to recovery from the depths of the coronavirus pandemic, but omicron remains a hurdle.

Growth in air cargo volumes decelerated in the last two months of 2021. Blame it on too much demand stressing the freight system.

2021 — This year had several highs and lows with mixed results in almost every industry. The most reported news centered on the supply chain and it has been fraught with […]

McDonald’s called in the air cavalry to overcome shipping disruptions that forced it to ration french fries in Japan.

“Expectations are that high consumer demand and low inventory levels will keep rates elevated well into next year,” says Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta.

Kuehne + Nagel is one of the largest, most profitable international freight management companies in the world. Its CEO announced he will leave next year.

The iconic MD-11 has ended its run with Lufthansa Cargo. The 23-year-old planes now head to a U.S. cargo carrier.

American Airlines is riding the cargo wave, like its competitors, but a challenging passenger environment is holding back its financial performance.

It’s an upside-down world when an airline makes more money flying less cargo than it did two years ago.

Two logistics companies at Chicago O’Hare airport are combining as congestion continues to slow freight deliveries.

A big ocean container line is buying big cargo jets from Boeing.

Worldwide Flight Services announced Friday it has acquired Pinnacle Logistics, a provider of cargo-handling services for the aviation market across the U.S.

Mammoth Freighters plans to produce 777 passenger-to-freighter conversions. A new deal makes it more mammoth.

Most all-cargo carriers that buy used passenger planes rebuild them for heavy cargo. Easter Airlines has a quicker, cheaper idea.

Transportation employment update

Passenger airlines are going crazy for cargo. WestJet is following the lead of Canadian rival Air Canada in starting a dedicated freighter business to capitalize on strong air cargo demand.

Transportation Employment Update

Excerpt: Most airlines survived the pandemic financial crisis, but will they survive the recovery?

The U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan couldn’t be accomplished without massive cargo transport planes. But tapping commercial resources could deprive other companies from using those aircraft.

Finding cargo space on aircraft these days is a challenge. Now comes another layer of demand from U.S. fruit growers looking to export from the West Coast.

SmartLynx Airlines is leasing passenger aircraft to fly cargo before using them for their traditional role.

Ocean container shipping company CMA CGM has a new cargo airline that’s flying to more places.

Airfreight markets around the world are facing serious capacity constraints. Trade growth is overwhelming the physical ability of carriers to move goods and it’s reflected in transport prices.

Aircraft conversion houses tear apart passenger aircraft, then reinforce the walls and floor so they can handle heavy cargo on the main deck. Business is growing along with trade.

Cargojet wants a bigger slice of the U.S. e-commerce and heavy air cargo market. It’s looking for an investment opportunity and has identified new trends in e-commerce that will keep volumes high in North America.

You think you can just book your cargo on a plane to avoid the ocean shipping congestion at the Suez Canal? Guess again. Freighters were flying full even before the Ever Given got stuck, so finding space will be very difficult.

Welcome aboard, freight customers. You’re now flying CMA CGM to the U.S. East Coast instead of taking a container ship.

There’s no time for deliberation these days if you want to get high-value cargo shipped by air. It’s a strong seller’s market in the air cargo world. If you see it, book it and don’t worry about the price.

Edmonton International Airport is investing in more cargo capacity to support e-commerce and other industries that increasingly are seeking air transport.

Airfreight markets are topsy-turvy in the COVID era, but importers and exporters can count on one thing: paying two to three times normal rates. CFOs will have to increase their transport budgets if they want goods to move quickly.

“The longer it takes for us to communicate to each other … the longer the end customer, who we are all focused on at the end of the day, has to wait for information.”

The air cargo market is doing much better than passenger business for airlines. It could reach equilibrium, following the pandemic shock, in the next few months.

UNICEF is helping less developed countries with supply chain needs associated with distributing coronavirus vaccines.

Cargo never got a window view during air transport until the coronavirus pandemic led airlines to find innovative ways to mitigate the loss of passenger revenue. Alaska Airlines is joining other carriers in stowing boxes and mailbags in seats.

With passenger planes all but out of commission earlier this year – and still lagging considerably in the fourth quarter – shippers had significantly fewer options for moving their products across the world.

Michael White has been carrying the flag for air cargo in the U.S. for more than two decades. He will retire at the end of the year.

The air cargo industry is operating with an anchor tied around its waist: The absence of strong passenger service.

Cargo is no longer the stepchild at passenger airlines. Strong cargo sales have helped keep airlines afloat as revenues plunge during the coronavirus. Will we see airlines start to buy freighters to capitalize on cargo demand?

Logistics companies are making lemonade from lemons during the coronavirus. New processes and workarounds keep freight moving, but often at extra cost.

Pittsburgh International Airport is a diamond in the rough when it comes to air cargo. The airport sits in a geographic sweet spot for reaching a huge chunk of the U.S. population by truck. Airlines and logistics companies are beginning to diversify their supply chains to cargo-friendly airports like Pittsburgh.

Companies have to spend more time trying to find cargo space for their goods with more than half the global passenger fleet still grounded by the coronavirus. The good news is carriers and logistics companies continue to add services.

The U.S. government is coordinating with the private sector how to quickly deliver a COVID-19 vaccine, but under one scenario officials are contemplating the military could deploy giant cargo planes to carry refrigerated trucks full of vaccines.

The freight-forwarding arms of DHL and DB Schenker are adding air capacity by leasing aircraft from all-cargo operators. The new services and features from DHL and FedEx are designed to meet growing demand associated with COVID and greater temperature requirements.

Amazon has outsourced aircraft operations again to long-standing vendor Air Transport Services Group. But Amazon is diversifying how it operates, adding an owned aircraft to its fleet.

National Multimodal Freight Network expected to be released later this year.

No part of United Airlines was spared from job cuts announced Wednesday, but the cargo division’s roughly 50 job losses are far fewer than those in other parts of the company.

3PL’s MyParcel provides European e-commerce customers a scheduled, yet competitively priced shipping service between existing express and postal.

The air cargo market continued its recovery in July from the depths of the COVID pandemic, but is still far below last year’s results. Demand is expected to shoot up in the next few months because the holidays are coming.

You’ll have to hold your nose if you crush a stink bug. More than a nuisance, the stink bug is a destructive pest that can damage many crops. Australia has put tight measures on air and sea freight to keep the bug out of the country.

Price inflation has tapered off for many – not all – air cargo markets during the second half of August. Shippers shouldn’t get used to it.

Airfreight exports from China slowed a bit in mid-August, allowing shippers to take back a tiny bit of pricing before rates shoot up for the next few months in as retailers build inventory for the holidays.

Delta Air Lines is stripping — seats that is. Removing seats from passenger aircraft adds capacity for lucrative cargo.

There was a marked difference in how Canada and the U.S. reacted to the opportunity of transforming passenger aircraft into twin-deck freighters by removing the seats. One country moved very fast. The other was slow to the party.

Shippers are facing delays at Sydney Airport in Australia because cargo terminals are buried in cargo.

Cargo has always been a top priority at Cathay Pacific, a combination carrier with a fleet of passenger and cargo planes. But the airline is adding some leadership muscle to gain more logistics customers.

Mesa Airlines flies small regional jets on small routes for mainline carriers. Now it’s stepping up a size to the Boeing 737 so it can haul cargo for DHL. Find out how they are getting ready for the new era of cargo.

Qantas Freight got permission to bring back employees in Melbourne after they were sent home a week ago to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Korean Air is a unicorn among passenger airlines. It made a profit in the second quarter, a remarkable feat given the depressed state of the airline industry.

Air Transport Services Group

Rickenbacker Airport, a low-hassle alternative to some big airports, set cargo records in June handling COVID supplies.

Airline industry officials are more pessimistic about a recovery after seeing a decline in consumer confidence and coronavirus surges in some countries. Cargo has more near-term upside, but June volumes were disappointing for carriers.

It’s not an accident that United Airlines’ cargo business in the second quarter dwarfed that of Delta Air Lines and American Airlines.

Express carriers UPS and DHL helped push Brussels Airport into the black for June’s cargo volume. Most airports during the pandemic haven’t been able to make up for the loss of passenger flights on which so much cargo typically flows.

American Airlines’ cargo revenue for the first half of the year was $277 million, or 37% lower than the first half of 2019.

The global airfreight market contracted during the first six months of 2020, but airlines made much more money from cargo than last year, according to World ACD.

American Airlines and JetBlue plan to enter a strategic partnership to drive more passengers to their respective networks as they struggle with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

Forward Air is expanding again. The company plans to offer traditional less-than-truckload service for the first time.

Lufthansa Airlines is transforming itself into a smaller airline, while its Cargo division settles on a single company to manage its central warehouse.

The air freight market appears saner in recent weeks, with less competition among shippers for transport services. But the shape of the recovery is anyone’s guess and a possible demand spike for face masks and surgical gowns could create a hyper-market again.

Delta Air Lines was closed for most cargo business at Chicago O’Hare airport. Now it has a schedule for reopening.

Rearview-looking government data confirms the stress for-hire transportation providers experienced in April. New cycle lows have built a foundation for recovery barring a pronounced second wave of coronavirus cases.

For specialized industries such as health care and aerospace, the stakes of supply chain interruptions and service failures have never been higher.

At least two governments, Australia and New Zealand, are helping to correct distortions in the airfreight market.

Supply chain management solutions provider project44 said it has shippers covered no matter where and how their cargo is transported throughout the world.

Shanghai Pudong Airport is getting crushed by heavy cargo volumes. Add to the mix a lot of red tape for export clearance and shipments are experiencing long delays and missed flights.

One of the Middle East’s largest airlines targets freight to keep its more than 250 aircraft flying during the coronavirus pandemic.

Governments must support vital supply chains. A big part of that is for all branches and levels of government to put aside partisanship and petty bickering and work for the good of the nation and its people.

Customer service (in many forms) is the key to keeping and/or expanding business during the pandemic.