The International Air Transport Association released its air freight market analysis for December 2015, showing a slight (0.8 percent) year-over-year increase in worldwide cargo traffic (in freight tonne kilometers flown). This 0.8-percent overall gain was the result of a 0.7-percent decrease in international traffic and a 1.4-percent increase in domestic traffic.
If you have been following the news from the express and e-commerce industries lately, you could be forgiven for thinking that the big U.S. integrators are in serious trouble, trembling at the thought of Amazon not only pulling its business from UPS and FedEx, but also competing for their remaining business.
Two themes that have featured heavily in the air logistics media recently are the lack of growth in airfreight demand, and the shift of what volume remains from freighters to the bellies of the current generation of widebody passenger aircraft.
U.S.-based lessor and asset manager Aviation Capital Group placed a firm order for fifteen 737-800 passenger-to-freighter conversions with Aeronautical Engineers Inc (AEI), with options for fifteen additional conversions. The announcement was made at the Cargo Facts Aircraft Symposium in Miami.
