Alibaba is a massive online shopping platform, but it also wants to be a dominant logistics provider around the world. It now covers Japan.

Air Canada sees a business opportunity flying all-cargo planes for e-commerce companies.

Delta took pains to remove seats from a large jet so it could carry more cargo — and eight weeks later permanently parked the airplane.

Amazon has ambitions to expand its air network internationally, and now has its own airport sort center in Europe.

A “China+1” or “China+2” strategy makes sense for many reasons, but how much can companies afford to distance themselves from China’s manufacturing prowess?

Delta is responding to customer willingness to pay good rates for airfreight by adding more cargo-only flights.

The TSA is doing a better job partnering with airfreight companies on security, but better training and technology are needed to meet future security obligations.

Atlas Air rode the rising tide for air cargo to higher profits in the third quarter.

The airfreight market is gaining strength as trade and e-commerce grow, but the disappearance of most international air travel is hurting airlines. And the situation appears to be worsening with new waves of COVID in Europe and the U.S.

The U.S. military relies on its own cargo aircraft and commercial operators to move personnel and equipment around the world. Rockets could do that in a tenth the time.

China still holds the title of the world’s manufacturing floor, but business challenges are leading more companies to source production in other countries.

Cargojet’s record airfreight volume helped adjusted earnings double in the third quarter.

Pfizer and Moderna have developed vaccines that need to be deep frozen. Most freight distribution companies and medical facilities don’t have super-cold freezers, so governments and industry are mobilizing resources until less sensitive vaccines come along that they are equipped to handle.

Aircraft stored away because of the pandemic still receive equipment checks and each battery reconnection drains capacity on some Airbus aircraft, which could lead to a loss of power.

Alibaba is challenging Amazon on many fronts, including logistics. It’s now handling import/export operations in South Korea.

UPS pilots say the company isn’t holding up its end of the bargain to keep them safe while flying cargo during a pandemic. UPS denies the claims.

The Defense Department, the biggest logistics organization in the world, is putting its expertise to work developing a strategic plan for efficiently delivering a COVID vaccine to every corner of the country.

COVID vaccines will be the highest priority for air cargo companies, and that means other types of shipments could sit in warehouses waiting to catch a flight if space is short.

The Airbus A321 is a ubiquitous people-hauler, but now Australia Post has the first freighter version of this popular aircraft.

Airlines have cut costs to the bone to survive the COVID pandemic. Shrinking the bone — maintenance, airport fees, labor and aircraft rent — is more difficult.

Amazon gets the pick of the litter. Its latest hire is an American Airlines executive picked to run local terminals.

We’re shopping online for products at levels not expected for 10 years because of the pandemic. Delivery companies are trying their best to stay ahead of the parcel tsunami coming at them for the holidays.

The iPhone 12 has arrived and UPS and FedEx are two of Apple’s shipping providers.

The challenges of delivering a coronavirus vaccine to 8 billion people are immense, but over time more logistics companies will be able to participate as shipping tolerances ease.

Ground handling companies, with the help of Trump administration officials at the Treasury Department, took CARES Act aid designed to keep workers employed and still terminated many of them.

Airline industry experts are just guesstimating when they say 8,000 big freighter planes will be needed to rush COVID vaccines to the public. Until we know more about the shipping requirements and packaging logistics, folks will still be in the dark.

American Airlines achieved a $77 million quarter-over-quarter gain in cargo revenue thanks to stepped-up cargo operations and favorable market rates.

Alaska Airlines is slowly improving its financial outlook month by month, but it still lost about $400 million in the third quarter.

Cathay Pacific is having trouble remaining a viable airline with just a trickle of passenger business due to the coronavirus. It’s taking drastic measures.

Air cargo companies are raking in revenues this year. It might be a bad time to ask for a handout from the government.

(Updated Oct. 260, 2020, 9 A.M. ET, with more on EFEW, Sine Draco Aviation) Questions about whether the new Airbus A321 converted freighter could generate orders and catch up to the Boeing 737-800, which has a three-year head start in the express delivery market, are quickly dissipating. Aircraft trading and leasing company Vallair announced Tuesday […]

Some Top 20 cargo airports still can’t get above water in terms of freight volume because there aren’t enough passenger planes flying.

Air Canada is losing its CEO, Calin Rovinescu. He will retire early next year with a reputation for bold leadership.

How do you prepare for the Super Bowl if you don’t know who your opponent is? That’s how airlines and freight managers feel about preparations for transporting a COVID-19 vaccine when one is approved because manufacturers aren’t freely sharing shipping details.

United Airlines lost more than $2 billion in the third quarter, but the cargo division did its part to stabilize finances.

UPS is one of nine companies that have leased lots of freighters from Air Transport Services Group this year. Find out who else is leasing these popular aircraft.

FEMA is trying to plan ahead for supply chain bottlenecks related to pandemic response and says it needs private sector help. New antitrust immunity on information-sharing should help.

The A321 has a lot of potential in the air cargo market because of its efficiency and payload. Companies are beginning to convert passenger planes into cargo freighters.

Alibaba is taking on Amazon around the world. Its latest move is in South America, with a new dedicated air service to speed up shipments.

Mexican all-cargo carrier MasAir is operating multiday service each week from Los Angeles to Mexico for DHL Express.

Asiana and Azul are taking cargo seriously in an unprecedented year for aviation. To capture greater cargo revenue, Asiana has replaced passenger seats with a novel freight pallet system. Azul is turning regional jets into cargo planes.

Train vs. truck in collisions. Train always wins.

Multibillionaire Sam Zell has holdings in many industries, including logistics. His company bought Able Freight, seeing higher growth opportunities in perishable logistics than standard dry goods.

American Airlines cargo and passenger flights will shift to a new mega-airport in Beijing in March. Passenger demand will dictate how long cargo-only flights continue.

A grocery supply chain expert told the FreightWaves Last Mile Logistics Summit that grocery stories are not feeding the Canadian appetite for online shopping.

Mesa Airlines and DHL reach a big cargo milestone.

21 Air is a small cargo airline that wants to expand but can’t afford new aircraft. So it’s acting as a sales agent and partnering with others to get more freight business when shippers are desperate for airlift.

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.

Airlines are slowly adding flights, but don’t mistake that for market optimism. Bookings are trending down for the winter and airlines are bleeding billions in cash.

At airlines, cargo is typically the junior partner to passenger service. During COVID, the roles are reversed and United Airlines is using its cargo network to support more passenger service.

More airlines and logistics firms are fortifying their pharmaceutical handling capabilities and credentials ahead of an expected COVID-19 vaccine release. Several companies this week announced new product offerings, investments or logistics arrangements aimed at vaccine manufacturers. Industry officials have warned that there isn’t enough cold-chain infrastructure worldwide to support an immediate delivery schedule, and urged […]

National Airlines – not National the car rental company – is adding three 747s to its freighter fleet at a time when shippers are desperate to find airlift.

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

President Donald Trump is trying to fast-track a COVID-19 vaccine and appears ready to mobilize military assets. A possible scenario involves an airlift with Air Force cargo jets, which offer two advantages: speed and cold storage.

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?

FedEx doesn’t just operate big cargo jets. It has small delivery planes too. ATR completed a test flight of a propeller aircraft that will carry freight for FedEx Express.

German gas manufacturer Linde GmbH allegedly blew hot air at U.S. Customs in its import declarations to fake the value of goods and lower its duty liability.

Making more money doing less less work. That’s air cargo in a nutshell. Volume is down from 2019, but yields are up.

From trucking, security and data exchange to customs and civil aviation permissions, the Amsterdam airport is covering all the bases for rushing out approved coronavirus vaccines.

French ocean carrier CMA CGM is diversifying into a multi-modal transport and logistics company, dipping its toe into the air cargo market after buying a huge third-party logistics company last year.

Good luck finding an available aircraft to haul your goods at a reasonable price for the next three months. Competition for airlift is fierce these days. Find out why.

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.

Voluntary redundancy is the term used when an organization has more jobs than it needs — or can afford. It’s a nice way of letting people go compared to forced layoffs. IATA has offered deals for employees to leave early, and cargo chief Glyn Hughes has accepted.

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.

Fires and heavy smoke have dominated life in Oregon and Washington this week. Here are photos from a transportation perspective.

It’s hurricane season in the U.S. and typhoon season in Asia. Planes on the ground are vulnerable. United Airlines and Hong Kong International Airport reveal their playbooks for securing parked planes.

When some passenger planes get long in the tooth, they get a second life in cargo. The latest candidate for conversion in the Airbus A321. It offers more shipping space than a Boeing 737 and could be flying to an airport near you soon with your online order.

(Updated Sept. 15, 10:20 A.M. ET with information on FedEx) Worsening smoke conditions prompted Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK to suspend all flights for 24 hours in Portland, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington, beginning at 3 p.m. on Monday. Otherwise, airline and parcel delivery networks have experienced limited disruption from the devastating wildfires that have impacted millions […]

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.

Air cargo capacity is tight out of key areas in Southeast Asia, but Chinese exporters enjoyed a week of flat to lower rates as supply exceeded demand

Amazon is pushing the envelope on fast delivery, increasingly replacing long-haul trucking with air transport. A new report shows how the retail giant is expanding its Air wing to do that.

New medicines and life science products are more valuable and temperature-sensitive than before, requiring special storage and transportation conditions. Will there be enough of this infrastructure to handle a COVID vaccine?

Whether or not President Donald Trump’s optimism about an October surprise comes to fruition, there could be an approved coronavirus vaccine next year. A giant flotilla of all-cargo planes will be deployed to deliver the medicine around the world, but airlines are already short of capacity and there isn’t yet enough refrigerated infrastructure to safely store that much vaccine. Airlines are issuing a call to action.

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.

“Look, Mom, no seats!” That’s Korean Air saying it’s flying a passenger plane with the seats removed because it can make more money putting cargo on the floor.

Companies that need to move goods by air will need to increase their transportation budgets to get through the fourth quarter as low capacity ignites airfreight prices.

Some people call it the Flying Forehead. The A380 is a double-deck plane that airlines quickly parked when the coronavirus destroyed travel demand. Now, Emirates is starting to fly a few of the mammoth planes.

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.

The viability of the airline industry is at stake because COVID has mostly wiped out passenger travel. The group’s global trade association is pleading with governments to help airlines with rule changes and financial aid.

Many postal services were underfunded prior to the coronavirus pandemic and now have extra demands for their service. UN agencies involved in air transport and postal operations want governments to help postal logistics with financial aid and operational flexibility.

U.S. passenger travel seems capped at about 70% of last year’s level until there is a coronavirus vaccine. International travel is a dumpster fire — carriers heavily exposed to international markets will take longer to fix their balance sheets.

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.

UPS is a modern-day version of the Pony Express, which operated its eastern terminal outside Kansas City. UPS is adding space at the Kansas City airport to park five aircraft wingtip to wingtip.

If you’re an airline with the name Scoot, you’ve got to move fast. The Singapore carrier did that when it transitioned to cargo flights and removing passenger seats.

Hurricane Laura’s onslaught has begun to disrupt air logistics in Texas.

The CARES Act was a Band-Aid for the airline industry, holding tens of thousands of jobs in place for a brief period. Now the Band-Aid is coming off and without a fresh dressing, American Airlines and competitors are planning big layoffs.

Hibernation is good for bears, but not so much for aircraft. When planes sit for extended periods, systems can erode and corrode, and bugs can make nests in key components. That’s a big safety concern airlines need to manage.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is not ready to implement new international security standards for cargo carried on freighter aircraft that go into effect next year. Whatever the plan, the air cargo industry will face higher costs to inspect cargo.

International travel is Qantas Airways’ bread-and-butter business, but it has been mostly wiped out by the coronavirus crisis. Now that underutilized side of the company is getting folded into the domestic unit to save money.

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.

Lufthansa is expanding its network of cold storage facilities for pharmaceutical products. The network meets the highest industry standards.

The Transportation Security Administration doesn’t have all the answers for securing airports, passenger flights and air cargo, so it relies on industry advisers. Four new members are joining the industry-led security committee.

Ruan Transportation quickly pivoted to adapt to changing economic conditions brought about by the coronavirus. Find out how they did it.

United Airlines’ early commitment to quasi-freighter operations as the coronavirus crisis grew has paid off financially. The airline is ramping up cargo operations even further during the third quarter.

The United Nations’ World Food Program is running a global air network with partner airlines to deliver COVID relief supplies to underserved communities but doesn’t have enough funding to continue the flights much longer.

Tensions between the U.S. and China are high on a number of trade, diplomatic and security fronts but are easing when it comes to air travel. Both governments are now allowing more flights from each country.