In recent years there has been a slimming down, as it were, regarding freighters – a turning away from the jumbo 747s and 777s and toward the squat 737s and svelte 757s. The e-commerce revolution, especially in Asia, requires smaller freighters to make more frequent stops. But because there are no current programs to build narrowbody freighters from the factory, customers must rely on companies providing passenger-to-freighter conversions.
As we enter the second half of the year, performance figures for May from the industry's leading research firms are painting a rather dismal airfreight picture for the rest of 2015.
Since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, many of the old Communist-era restrictions for setting up business have been removed. For some logistics companies, the largest barriers to entry come not from Chinese red tape but from other Western competition.
A group of very important guests were transported on flight QR 8197 from Amsterdam-Schiphol to Las Vegas via Qatar Airways this past April. A 777-200 freighter was reserved for just 40 well-pampered passengers from 17 different countries, who flew "first class," so to speak, on the 11-hour, 20-minute flight. The combined net worth of these clients was about $160m. As rich as they were, they did little more on the flight than eat and sleep, with an inflight dining menu of 120 pre-packed haynets, water, oat bran for mash, mixed feed, apples and carrots.
The Stifel Logistics Confidence Index released in May reports the airfreight index increased 2.5 points to 59.5 in May, 3.8 points higher than May 2014 and 10.6 points more than May 2013. This should be good news for air forwarders as they move through the year.
U.S. Senator Cory Booker has introduced the "Commercial UAS Modernization Act," which could create temporary rules to allow commercial drone operations in the United States.
The global usage of electronic air waybills (e-AWBs) stood, at the end of February, at 26.9 percent, up 2 percent from January. And IATA is confident that the industry can reach its 2015 target of 45 percent by the end of this year.
In 2014, losses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as a result of cargo theft totaled $80m, according to the Transported Asset Protection Association. TAPA reported an average of three major cargo crimes occurred each day in 2014, targeting high-value, easy-to-steal goods in the supply chain, with an average loss of $221,000 each day.
As FedEx and TNT Express work out the details of their planned €4.4 billion merger, echoes of a similar deal between UPS and TNT that was doomed in 2013 were instantly brought to mind. But this time around, both FedEx and TNT believe the antitrust concerns of two years ago will not play a major role in the European Union's judgment of the acquisition.
What began as a slow-simmering disagreement over the use of government subsidies - one that has lasted for years - has recently mushroomed into a thunderhead of angry rhetoric, threats of lawsuits and proposed legislative action to roll back open skies agreements. The major U.S.-based carriers continue to accuse Middle Eastern airlines of exploiting the American market with an unfair advantage.
