AIR-FREIGHT LOGISTICS
Air freight logistics involves the shipment of goods through an air carrier — either chartered or commercial — that travel out of commercial and passenger aviation gateways to anywhere planes can fly and land.
The Advantages of Air Freight Logistics
Air Freight logistics has a lot of advantages
- Air freight presents to you express shipping options that helps in the coordination of time-sensitive shipments to almost every corner of the world.
- This can prove to be very advantageous for smaller and mid-sized companies allowing them to participate in international trade effectively.
- High level of security is another advantage as airport controls over cargo are tightly managed.
The Expansion of Air Freight Shipping
The 20th Century saw wide utilization of air freight as one of the options for central delivery in imports and exports. Since then, over the last 40 years, it has seen exponential growth as an industry during the expansion of trade networks and markets. Today, air freight is regarded as an efficient shipping mode nationally and internationally.
Over time, the air freight industry has managed to gradually increase its share of global passenger and freight traffic. Over the last 30 years this trend has accelerated. Today, with an increase in the emphasis that is laid on the globalization of trade and economic activity, it is expected that air-freight growth will continue to outpace the growth of air passenger traffic and be greatest in Asian markets (i.e., intra-Asia, North America-Asia, Europe-Asia, Australasia), in spite of the recent economic crises in the region.
Owing to various reasons, it is becoming difficult to delimit and analyze air freight markets. The providers of air-freight services are a heterogeneous group of operators, who offer various types of services and varied levels of logistical expertise. Air-freight operators are classified into three main categories:
- Line-haul operators,
- Integrated/courier/express operators, and
- Niche operators.
- Line-haul operators: These operators move cargo between airports, relying on freight forwarders or consolidators for direct dealing with customers. Line-haul operators can be:
- All-cargo operators (scheduled and non-scheduled): These operators move only freight in dedicated freighter or cargo aircraft. They offer relatively high reliability and are capable of moving large volumes of cargo over long distances.
- Combination passenger and cargo operators: These operators use two transport mediums to move freight — dedicated freighter aircraft and the belly holds in passenger aircraft. Such carriers are usually involved in long-haul cargo operations, and interline a large quantity of freight on to shorter haul feeder services.
- Passenger operators: These operators use the belly holds in passenger aircraft and view cargo as a by-product of passenger operations. They offer the low prices and their services are low on the reliability front as well.
- Integrated/courier/express operators: These operators offer time-definite delivery sevices and move consignments from door to door. To meet customer demands, they combine air services with extensive surface transport. When it comes to aircraft requirements, these operators need to operate quiet, reliable aircraft whose utilization levels are low.
Niche operators: These operators operate or leverage specialized equipments in order to fill extraordinary requirements. The prime specialty of these operators is that they are capable of handling outside freight or special consignments that include line-haul to locations with poor infrastructure facilities through which they attract business.
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