b'may 25 - june 21, 2020NOrth AmericAs trANsPOrtAtiON & LOGistics NewsPAPer 29Air C ArgoAIR CARgoNEWSNEWSAmerican Airlines continues its pioneering history with expanded cargo operationsAmerican Airlines has expanded itsbacktoflyingcargo,whenaDoug-cargoscheduleinMaytoprovide140lasDC-3loadedwithmorethan6,000 weekly flights to 15 cities in Asia Pacific,poundsoffreshspinach,freshflowers, EuropeandtheCaribbean,upfromairplane parts and apparel flew the first 80flightslastweek.Newdestinationsscheduled air cargo flight from Burbank, include daily flights between Dallas-FortCalifornia (BUR) to New York (LGA) on Worth(DFW)andHongKong(HKG);Oct. 15, 1944. American was also the first and weekly flights from DFW and Bei- airline with dedicated cargo terminals.jing(PEK);DFWChicago(ORD)andAfter growing into a passenger air-Paris (CDG); ORD and London Heath- line, American returned to freighter oper-row(LHR);Philadelphia(PHL)andations in October 1974 with six Boeing Rome (FCO); PHL and San Juan (SJU),747s.With176,000poundsofcargo and PHL and Zurich (ZRH). capacity, the freighter flew a wide range For more than 75 years, cargo flightsofcargofromaprintingpresstofresh have played a significant role in the his- produce in its first year.tory of American Airlines. And now in theAmerican flew the freighters for 10 face of a global pandemic, cargo flightsyears before the capacity of newer wide-are once again placing cargo in the historybody aircraft (at the time the DC-10 and books for American. theBoeing767)allowedAmericanto Why we fly hasnt changed, but outload freight containers on passenger air-of necessity how we care for people oncraft, moving the carrier away from a ded-lifes journey has had to change. Cargo- icated freighter fleet. The freighters were only fights have allowed us to transportsold, with one purchased by NASA and medicalequipment,communicationsconverted to piggyback the space shuttle.andtechnologytools,pharmaceuticalsAmerican is a key player in the 35% andfoodsupplies,saidRickElieson,of world trade that moves by air cargo, President of Cargo and Vice President ofcarrying 2 billion pounds of goods annu-InternationalOperations.Aircargoisally in the bellies of its passenger air-uniquely positioned to connect the worldcraft. And now more than ever before, atatimewhenbarriersanddistanceair cargo plays a significant role in con-threatentoseparateus.Imimmenselynectingtheworldwithcriticalgoods proud of our teams and business partners transporting fresh produce, shipping who have come together to make thesetemperature-controlleddrugtrialsfor flights possible, said Elieson. coronavirus (COVID-19) and filling air-The airlines early roots can be tracedcraft full of PPE.Air travel demand and the cargo impactBy Keith Nehring, senior product development manager at C.H. RobinsonAweeklystapleinourhouseisbrown spots.bananas and most weeks buying bananasWiththatinmind,letusexamine isuneventful.Astheprimarygrocerysomeofthemidtolong-termimpacts shopperinmyfamily,Itypicallylookof COVID-19 on the air freight market. forbananastransitioningfromgreentoMany shippers and forwarders are won-yellow.Maybetheywonttastegreatdering when we might return to a normal today,butwithinadaytheyshouldbemarket condition and there are many fac-ready to eat and well have most of thetors that will come in to play. One of the week before the brown spots start to form.most significant is demand for travel.Occasionally I will be forced to choose between bananas that are either too greenC aPaCityi mPaCtor too ripe. I know the ripe bananas mayEach lane is different, but passenger only take a day or two to develop thoseflights make up a large portion of air freight dreaded brown spotsmaking them ined- capacity globally. As demand for air travel ible for my young childrenbut I tend tosteadily increased over the years, airlines choose those over the bananas I considerhave responded with more passenger air-too green. craft to support this demand. This addi-Thisisaprettygoodcomparisontional equipment increased cargo capacity, for how it feels to give air freight marketeven in years where demand for air cargo updates lately.Providing these updates isdid not increase at a corresponding level.one of my responsibilities at C.H. Robin- With cargo capacity (supply) increasing son and normally a straightforward task.faster than demand, many airlines operating Overthepastfewmonths,however,Iboth passenger and freighter aircraft recon-feel like Im buying a banana that is toosidered their need for freighters. Some air-ripe. In the days following a new marketlines got out of the freighter aircraft market american airlines Cargo at Hong Kong International airport update that Ive created, Im looking for(IMPACTcontinued on page 31)'