The loss of belly cargo, along with staffing challenges, high fuel prices, closed airspace, the rise in inf lation, and the general slowdown of economies worldwide have kept the air cargo sector in a tailspin for the past two years. Glyn Hughes, director general of The International Air Cargo Association (Tiaca), said the industry has been forced to deal with some extreme challenges since the outbreak of the global pandemic – and the Russia-Ukraine war had only added to its woes.“While we hope for a swift end to the conf lict, we anticipate the current difficult conditions to remain for the next few months at least,” he told Freight News. “We do anticipate more favourable conditions for demand during the third and fourth quarters of the year. In addition, the continued return of international passenger demand is adding more belly capacity to the global network options.”Hughes said global economic issues had heavily impacted the air cargo industry, but fell outside of the industry’s inf luence. “What we must do better as an industry is to further embrace technology and automation as staffing remains a challenge. Customers are demanding increased transparency and predictability, and we must introduce more digital solutions in response.”He said softening demand as a result of a reduction in consumer spending was another big challenge. “Consumer spending on discretionary items, many of which are staple air cargo products, has been impacted by the rise in inf lation and the increased cost of energy in the home and in fuelling vehicles. “We are also experiencing difficulties in recruiting the much-needed talent to drive this industry forward, with vacancies arising in almost every aspect of the industry, from technical to commercial, from drivers to warehouse staff, from customer service to product development. Addressing this challenge is crucial for future industry success.”Airline staffing issues have been causing havoc around the world, leading to carriers cancelling f lights. With staff having been laid off during the Covid-19 pandemic, shortages are being felt as demand is soaring and reaching close to pre-pandemic levels. Africa, while dealing with all of the above, also had some unique challenges which impacted airfreight – notably, the very high tax regime, the lack of harmonisation of rules, the lack of a cohesive continental approach to air cargo and the lack of a single common trading market, said Hughes.“Africa has 15% of the world’s population, over 20% of its land mass and nearly a quarter of all the world’s countries, which collectively create a multitude of borders and therefore increases complexity. A lack of consistent infrastructure is also a challenge as only a few gateways can handle today’s most sensitive cargo from a temperature-control perspective.”He said that worldwide, sustainability was a critically important topic for the air cargo sector. “Customers are starting to make purchasing decisions based on sustainability credentials; employees are factoring a company’s sustainability performance into employment decisions; and we see investors, regulators and business partners all looking for a company to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability.”The pilot of Tiaca’s new BlueSky programme has just been completed and is set to be launched live in the coming weeks. “This programme aims to help industry stakeholders to assess and demonstrate where they are and how they are progressing in terms of sustainability,” said Hughes.
