Airlines need to come up with ways to make their cargo operations more efficient, an aviation industry specialist has warned, or their freighter aircraft may become obsolete, with volumes flat since 2010, according to Shipping Gazette.
The industry needs a structural redesign, said director of cargo industry management at International Air Transport Association (IATA) Glyn Hughes at an annual airline meeting in Doha.
IATA predicts cargo volumes will total about 52 million tons this year, effectively unchanged since 2010.
The US$6.8 trillion worth of goods transported by air cargo every year represents 35 per cent of international trade by value but only 0.5 per cent of total volumes, Mr Hughes pointed out, reported Jeddah's Arab News.
He called for more drastic changes to shorten transport times and regain ground lost to the shipping industry. Some carriers have already reduced the number of freighter planes they operate in reaction to a tough market, he said.
To remain competitive in the longer term, airlines need to cut shipping times and position themselves as premium operators specialising in high value or perishable goods.
For example electronic airway bills, which the association said represented just 14.3 per cent of contracts, was short of its target of 22 per cent for 2014.
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