Cargo airline

Cargo airlines (or airfreight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, Airline Cargo Traffic represented 262,333 millions tonne-kilometres with a 49.3% load factor: 52.1% for dedicated Cargo Operations, and 47.9% within Mixed Operations (belly freight of passenger airliners).[1]

A Boeing 747-400F of Cargolux

Freight rates

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, adjusted cargo capacity fell by 4.4% in February while air cargo demand also fell by 9.1%, but the near-halt in passenger traffic cut capacity even deeper as half of global air cargo is carried in passenger jets’ bellies. Air freight rates rose as a consequence, from $0.80 per kg for transatlantic cargoes to $2.50-4 per kg, enticing passenger airlines to operate cargo-only flights, while cargo airlines bring back into service fuel-guzzling stored aircraft, helped by falling oil prices.[2]

Logistics
UPS hub at Louisville International Airport

Air transport is a component of many international logistics networks, managing and controlling the flow of goods, energy, information and other resources like products, services, and people, from the source of production to the marketplace. Logistics involves the geographical repositioning of raw materials, work in process, and finished inventories.[3]

Aircraft used
The Antonov An-225, the largest aircraft, used by Antonov Airlines

Larger cargo airlines tend to use new or recently built aircraft to carry their freight. However, many still utilize older aircraft, including those no longer suited for passenger service, like the Boeing 707, Boeing 727, Douglas DC-8, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, McDonnell Douglas MD-11, Airbus A300, and the Ilyushin Il-76. Examples of the 60-year-old Douglas DC-3 are still flying around the world carrying cargo (as well as passengers). Short range turboprop airliners such as the Antonov An-12, Antonov An-26, Fokker Friendship, and British Aerospace ATP are being modified to accept standard air freight pallets to extend their working lives. This normally involves the replacement of glazed windows with opaque panels, the strengthening of the cabin floor and insertion of a broad top-hinged door in one side of the fuselage.

Antonov An-225 Mriya and Antonov An-124 are the world's largest aircraft, used for transporting large shipments and oversized cargos.[4][5]

Usage of large military airplanes for commercial purposes, pioneered by Ukraine's Antonov Airlines in the 1990s, has allowed new types of cargo in aerial transportation.

In the past, some cargo airlines would carry a few passengers from time to time on flights, and UPS Airlines once unsuccessfully tried a passenger charter airline division.

The Boeing 747 is also widely used as a cargo aircraft. The latest aircraft in the wide-body series is the Boeing 747-8.

Type of cargo airlines
Main article: List of cargo airlines
MD-10 of FedEx Express, the largest cargo airline

By freight tonne-kilometres flown (millions):[6]

RankAirline2018
1 FedEx Express17,499
2 Emirates SkyCargo12,713
3 Qatar Airways Cargo12,695
4 UPS Airlines12,459
5 Cathay Pacific Cargo11,284
6 Korean Air Cargo7,839
7 Lufthansa Cargo7,394
8 Cargolux7,322
9 Air China Cargo7,051
10 China Southern Airlines Cargo6,597

Largest Cargo Carriers
A300 of European Air Transport, a subsidiary of DHL Aviation

Some more large cargo carriers are:[7]

All-cargo subsidiary
777 of Emirates Sky Cargo, the largest all-cargo subsidiary

The following are freight divisions of passenger airlines operating their own or leased freighter aircraft. Some have shut down or merged with others:[8]

The following are freight divisions without freighter fleets, using passenger aircraft holds or having other cargo airlines fly on their behalf. Some of these previously had freighters:

These carriers operate freighter aircraft but do not have cargo divisions:

These carriers operate freighter aircraft exclusively

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See also

References
  1. "World Air Transport Statistics" (PDF). IATA. 2019.
  2. Cirium (3 April 2020). "Freight rates on the rise amid slump in passenger flights". Flightglobal.
  3. Bartsch, Butsri (24 May 2013). "Air freight - it could not be faster!". BB Handel. Archived from the original on 2013-06-07. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  4. "Chapman Freeborn charters first AN-225 to South America". Chapman Freeborn Airchartering.
  5. "Argentina's First Satellite Delivered on AN-124 Cargo Charter". Chapman Freeborn Airchartering.
  6. https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/top-25-cargo-airlines-fedex-at-the-top-as-qatar-closes-in-on-emirates
  7. https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/top-25-cargo-airlines-fedex-at-the-top-as-qatar-closes-in-on-emirates
  8. "World's 50 largest air cargo carriers in 2014: FedEx leading the way". Air Cargo News. 15 September 2015.
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