Air cargo needs to be heard and seen

Innovation, digitization, e-commerce and capacity remain the recurring themes in air cargo. The World Cargo Summit 2025 held in Ostend-Bruges last week made no exception. But the industry’s legitimate concerns, its economic achievements, impacts, and its demand for a level playing field eliminating traffic distortions barely get beyond internal circles. This was also largely the case in Ostend. The reason: Most actors are too modest and shy away from national or international conflicts. But is this restraint still appropriate?

Air Cargo – raise your voice!  –  illustration: courtesy FREEP!K

2024 was an excellent year for the industry, with double-digit growth in demand and elevated load factors and yields. But what about the future? First, of course, there is the impact of the decisions of the not-so-new occupant of the White House, whose proposed tariffs may impact 20% of the global air cargo market revenue.

Capacity shortage
On the mid-term, there is the observation that 2024 saw 13% less widebody belly freight capacity on the major air cargo routes vs. 2019, the fact that over 30% of the in-service freighters are over 30 years old and that only 12% new freighter capacity is expected to be delivered by 2030, vs. today’s in-service capacity. On the major trade lanes, linking the Fareast, Europe and North America this capacity is being devoured by e-commerce.

Capacity shortage is, however, not limited to aircraft. On the ground too, stricter regulation may force operators to look for other opportunities. Secondary airports are vying for this additional traffic. Host airport Ostend-Bruges International is one of them, as are Maastricht-Aachen (not controlled by Schiphol Group) and Hahn in Germany.

E-commerce
The rise of e-commerce shipments is so overwhelming that it is driving general cargo out of the aircraft decks. As TIACA Director-General Glyn Hughes put it in one of his moderations: “The growth of e-commerce is masking the evolution of the other verticals.”

E-commerce accounts for 1.5 mln tons per day (sic!) in the industry and it was the mean driver for the rapid ascent of Liege Airport in the cargo airports ranking. While most companies set a period of 72 hours – read: 5 working days – as their target for delivery, customers would like to see these squeezed to 3.5 days.

Digitization
So, if speed is what the customers demand, time-consuming regulatory compliance is what the authorities are longing for. Digitization may be the match maker to bring these contradictory forces together. It has been one of the buzz words of the industry for years and still is, which demonstrates the snails-pace process in its implementation.

According to McKinsey, 40% of leading managers in logistics say that digital transformation will reshape their business model by 2025.

The better sharing of data that by many actors in the chain are still protected with a Fort Knox attitude, as well as AI and robotics on the work floor are seen as imperative to speed up the surface processes.

A survey has shown that only 12% of logistic operators think that the current collaboration efforts in the supply chain are fully effective, underscoring the scepticism about its true impact.

Wanted: freight forwarder
This upcoming traffic jam of shipment and authorities linked information is in urgent need of traffic control, which will add another function to the freight forwarders’ already comprehensive package of tasks. They are the liaison officers between the ever-demanding shipper and the logistics player expected to comply to the former’s wishes.

Visibility
Visibility is a feature that is supposed to be an integral part of the logistics process, but it may also make sense for the air cargo business and by extension for the logistics industry as a whole.

In other words, the industry has to stand up for itself. It needs to be recognised as the backbone of global trade, but in this respect a lot is still found wanting. Unlike the farmers, the air cargo industry cannot block highways with tractors or pour manure on the doorsteps of government offices.

But does the industry’s message resonate sufficiently in the ivory towers at the WTO, the EU and the like? Asked by CFG if specific actions should be taken to put the industry more on the foreground, the rather vague answer of the panelists was that the confidence in the current professional associations IATA, TIACA, FIATA and the like is unwavering. “Air freight players prefer quiet tones and the diplomatic approach to draw attention to their concerns,” stated an airline executive in response to CFG’s advance. So far, however, the results of this barely audible strategy are more than modest.

ADP gets new chief
As CFG has learned from internal sources on the sidelines of the Ostend meeting, Philippe Pascal will become the new head of the French airport company ADP. His nomination is supported by French President Emmanuel Macron, but still requires parliamentary approval, which is expected in February. The French state owns a 50.6% stake in ADP. Monsieur Pascal succeeds Augustin de Romanet, who has held the position since 2012.

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