Airfreight.org.uk

Today we take airfreight for granted. A service we use for shipping mail, parcels, boxes, pallets, and vehicles globally, and that can even provide next day delivery worldwide services; airfreight is just a part of everyday life; most of the time we hardly notice it. Often the intensity of modern airfreight becomes apparent only at night when the f... inal passengers have departed. At East Midlands Airport 1 , the second most important airfreight hub in the UK, the bulk of the airfreight arrives and leaves at night, transported by dedicated cargo planes packed with personal and industrial items including fresh produce from all over the world. Globally, regarding value, almost a third of world trade is handled by the airfreight industry. Here we look at a historical and modern of airfreight including currently available services. The history of airfreight is said to have begun in 1910 with a shipment of silk flown from Dayton to Columbus in the US which arrived faster than it would have done by rail. Airfreight expanded rapidly during the early twentieth century. In 1927 around 21 kilograms of freight were shipped by air. Just two years later has risen to 100 kilograms, and by 1931 it achieved almost 1.5 million kilograms. Before the outbreak of the second world war, nearly 70% of global airfreight consisted of letters and parcels. This was transported exclusively on passenger planes as no dedicated civilian cargo freight carriers were built until after the end of the war, though during the war and in its immediate aftermath troop carriers played a significant role in transporting troops and military equipment. The development of the turboprop was a game changer, proving to be the ideal match for the new class of dedicated air freighters that emerged after the war. The airfreight industry blossomed. Mail was no longer the main cargo; by the 1950s parcels accounted for just 20% of global air cargo. Today airfreight is carried by a mix of purpose-built cargo planes, modified passenger planes, and in the belly hold ...Read More