WIRSING: AIR CARGO INDUSTRY ?HANGS IN THE BALANCE?

WIRSING: AIR CARGO INDUSTRY ôHANGS IN THE BALANCEö    Air-cargo transport may show promise in the long term, but U.S. freight forwarders and carriers are worried about the here and now of the market.
A soft global economy, rising fuel costs, the Middle East conflict, and the possibility for more airline bankruptcies means that the air-cargo business largely “hangs in the balance,” said David E. Wirsing, executive director for the Airforwarders Association, at the Federal Aviation Forecast Conference in Washington, March 19.
   The air freight industry lost about $22 billion in 2002, and Wirsing said the business is already off to a “rough start” in 2003.
   Wirsing believes that survival of the air-cargo sector will come with “a more coordinated effort” between shippers, forwarders and airlines to develop “new styles of partnerships.”
   “It’s the new economic reality. We must do more,” he said.
   Similarly, all-cargo plane operators and airlines are searching for ways to trim operations costs and attract more business.
   During the 1980s, all-cargo airlines had little difficulty attracting customers. “Now we have to find customers and cultivate customers,” said Thomas A. Corcoran, president and chief executive officer for Gemini Air Cargo.
   “We think that larger (all-cargo) carriers and integrated carriers (such as UPS and FedEx) will grow and expand,” Corcoran said. “We see a trend toward integrated solutions across the world.”