Air Cargo Trends In A Pandemic World

By Dominic Hyde, Vice President Crēdo™ On Demand at Pelican BioThermal

Previous predictions in pharmaceutical transportation trends, highlighting declining air passenger numbers and air freight demand increasing, have been pandemic-propelled. Coronavirus continues causing worldwide disruption, and it is anticipated its industry impact will continue throughout 2021 and beyond.

Pandemic Response - Preighters Take Off

Pre-pandemic passenger numbers were already on the downturn. However, the COVID-19 crisis significantly accelerated that trend.

The crisis capacity crunch came as the number of passenger flights plummeted and the ensuing scramble to transport pandemic payloads saw the deployment of hundreds of passenger planes as freighters, known as preighters.

Pioneering Portuguese charter operator Hi Fly led this trend and was the first to convert an A380 for freight, taking out the majority of seats to provide more cargo capacity.

Despite the sector seeing the grounding of hundreds of passenger planes, earlier than had been initially forecast, which led to a reduction in the availability of cargo space in the bellies of these passenger aircraft, we’ve seen more planes undergo conversions to freighters.

The preighters prevalence looks set to continue throughout 2021 and beyond. Although the air cargo industry faces continuing challenges, IATA predicts an anticipated 25% rise in freight tonne-kilometres this year.