The near-term demand for air freight is expected to remain strong, but the overall outlook for the airline industry is dire as passenger planes remain grounded and financial woes increase.
According to Glyn Hughes, International Air Transport Association (Iata) global head of cargo, airlines are burning through cash and millions of jobs are at risk.
There are also far-reaching wider concerns for national economic prosperity if the global aviation industry loses airlines.
In South Africa it is estimated that around 80% of air freight moves as belly freight on passenger planes.
The grounding of fleets has resulted in huge capacity constraints and demand has soared.
“The dramatic and rapid grounding of the passenger f leet caused a huge spike in demand for cargo capacity during the early stages of the global travel restrictions around the world,” said Hughes.
- Read the rest from out Freight Features section here: https://www.freightnews.co.za/print-archives/airfreight-feature-2020/view-pdf
