One of the most important and ever-evolving areas of the transportation industry is that of air freight, alternatively known as air cargo. 

Essentially, air freight is the term used to describe anything and everything, aside from humans, carried by either a commercial or a chartered airline and becomes especially complicated when importing and exporting stock.

To find out more, read on to discover an informative guide to the air freight industry.  

Key Strengths of Air Freight 

Even though, in an ideal world, air freight would be a streamlined and wholly perfected method of transporting goods around the world, there are, of course, several issues relating to individual stages of the process, as well as a number of outstanding and impressive strengths. 

Moving products from one location to another using air transportation provides an incredibly high level of knowledge and expertise for special cargo loads, as well as being the most efficient mode for countries that are land locked.

In addition, the air freight industry benefits from a healthy level of competition and is fast, safe and secure, with virtually no risk of theft. 

Weaknesses of Air Transportation 

Conversely, one of the more impactful issues with air transportation is the lack of communication, clarity and transparency between different stakeholders and indeed, the almost non-existent relationship between the shipping company and the customer or client.

Other core disadvantages that industry professionals are continually looking to change and improve include the following:

• Questionably high contributors to negative environmental effects
• Over capacity
• Compliance to international security regulations
• Too much time to adopt new technologies and changes to the shipment journey 

Significant Developments 

As touched upon previously, the way cargo is transported, stored and indeed, tracked on the journey itself, is a collection of systems and processes that constantly change and evolve.

This is why professionals working within the industry consider keeping abreast of the latest air cargo news to be an essential component of their job and always keep one eye focused upon the projected future of air freight. 

Such future projections include:

• Data-on-demand models 
• Capitalisation on e-commerce
• Real-time interaction with customers
• An optimised supply chain from start to finish using technology 

Interesting Facts about Air Cargo 

With such a revolutionary way of delivering products and services from ‘A to B’, it is no wonder that so many people, from all different walks of life, are interested in pursuing a career in air freight. 

From the first air cargo flight, carried out in 1910, which covered a relatively small distance of 65 miles carrying silk to Columbus from Dayton, to the Ukranian Antonov 225 Mriya, which can carry a staggering 640 tons, this is an industry full of fascinating stats and facts. 

Believe it or not, there are even shipments of everything from food and clothing to computers and other technologies delivered to the International Space Station, with around 51 and a half million tons of air cargo being transported from one place to another each and every year.