[imagesource:goodfon]

The aviation industry has recovered nicely from the pandemic, with demand increasing and air traffic even growing beyond 2019 levels.

With political instability and associated costs on the ground, the sky is becoming more popular not just for people but also for cargo.

Although 2024’s estimated profitability for the entire global airline industry was more than $25 billion (R474 billion), this equated to just $5.5 (R103) per passenger. Considering the cost of aeroplane tickets these days, it’s safe to assume that cargo is very much the fulcrum that keeps the air alive.

Combined with the challenges the maritime industry is facing, sending your freight by air is an extremely competitive offer. When maritime is struggling, shippers quickly shift to air freight. Cargo has to be moved, if not by land or sea, then by air. Now we just need fatter planes.

Although air cargo is very dependent on belly space on passenger flights, there will still be a notable uptick in dedicated air freight services in 2024 as the sector’s growth is keeping pace with the rise in merchandise, especially coming out of Asia.

Although there are some truly massive cargo planes crisscrossing the sky above us today, there’s always the need to go bigger and better, and seeing as most cargo is sent in containers, Boeing even went as far as designing a weird aeroplane that could ‘suck up’ shipping containers.

The strange-looking design has landing gear that is wider than the shipping containers and a large fuselage that opens underneath the plane for the containers to slot into.

Air freight is mostly transported using the unit load device (ULD) system, which packs cargo into smaller containers and onto pallets for transport on both cargo planes and standard passenger aircraft. Boeing’s design, however, would not only allow a plane to carry more cargo but would also transport air freight in standardised containers to streamline the shipping process.

It’s a weird-looking aircraft, but as with many patents, Boeing may be only locking down an idea in case they ever decide to pursue it. A plane that can lower its entire body and lift more than a dozen shipping containers would require extensive testing and years of design. Still, it’s a clever idea.

Flying cargoships might be some time away, but in the meantime, if you want to advantage of the booming air freight industry, speak to family-run Berry & Donaldson. They have been safely transporting cargo to more than 170 countries for over 50 years, and will still be doing it by the time Boeing finally gets their flying warehouse off the ground.

[Source:safreightnews&popularmechanics]