Whereas passenger carriage used to outstrip belly cargo revenue, freight now outweighs pax profit, says Willie Walsh, the new executive at the helm of the International Air Transport Association (Iata).
Because cargo in a Covid continuum continues to grow as vaccine distribution gathers pace, supply chain’s contribution to airline balance sheets is also on the increase.
As a result, Walsh emphasises, airlines are more likely to invest in air cargo.
He says it’s a certainty that immediate future investment will underscore Iata’s faith in airfreight, and that ongoing development in the field of digitisation should be prioritised.
Elsewhere, Iata’s head for special cargo, Andrea Gruber, echoes Walsh’s sentiments about vaccine distribution, referring to it as a global mission.
Key requirements however remained, she pointed out, especially with regard to temperature-controlled supply-chain checks.
She intimated that infrastructure, equipment and related requirements were still not what they should be to meet demand for increased global vaccine distribution.
Gruber also said that it had been noted that airlines were learning from past mistakes and that enhanced cargo tracking from end to end along the supply chain should further assist with improved vaccine rollout.