A century of air cargo
Posted on Mardi 20 avril 2010 at 9 h 42 min and filed under Magazine, Non classé.The delivery of a batch of silk via aircraft in 1910 ushered in the age of air freight. A look back at the history of a little-known activity, from Aéropostale, to Air France Cargo to UPS. — By Marc Branchu
November 7, 1910, Columbus, Ohio. End-of-year sales were approaching and Max Morehouse, who owned the town’s largest store, wanted to pull off an advertising stunt that would grab people’s attention. Being an aviation enthusiast, he came up with the idea of having a batch of silk delivered by plane from the nearby town of Dayton. The age of air freight was ushered in—but it wasn’t a revolution, yet, because airplanes hardly traveled faster than trains and their freight capacity was limited. The Wright B that flew from Dayton to Columbus carried just 90 kilograms of silk. Airplanes were only used for occasional, one-off deliveries.
Airmail takes off — World War I played an important role in the rise of air transportation. Balloons and airships were developed, and aviation underwent a transformation. A Zeppelin made a flight of 6,750 kilometers carrying almost 14 tons of fresh supplies for German troops in Africa. In 1914, there were some 400 aircraft, but by 1918 they numbered 13,000. They were used for observation, bombing and carrying airmail. With the return of peace, newly set up airlines tested their transportation capacities with mail and small freight before carrying passengers. In the United States, airmail was operated by the administration; between 1918 and 1927, the number of letters delivered by US Air Mail soared from 700,000 to 22 million.
Notions and nuggets — The French and the Germans had their commercial sights set on the Atlantic Ocean, and in 1928, Aéropostale had shipping and air routes between Toulouse and Buenos Aires. The Germans operated routes by airship or ocean liners equipped with catapults that launched planes toward the end of the crossing. In the 1930s, Air France planes carried newspapers (notably between Paris and London), gloves (to Scandinavia) and perfume (to England). KLM included banknotes, precious metals, live animals and cut flowers. Air freight was born in Europe but it grew elsewhere, with Canada becoming the leading player. In the United States in 1927, Air Express, the predecessor of UPS and FedEx®, was founded. Colombia flew chicle to the US to produce chewing gum. In New Guinea from 1931 to 1942, over 35,000 tons of material were transported to local gold mines—the first airlift in history.
Postwar boom — During World War II, military personnel and equipment had been moved around by airplane. With the Douglas DC-3 and the Curtiss C-46, US Army Air Forces had carried out huge logistical operations, like the Hump airlift over China’s Yunnan mountains. During the Berlin Blockade in 1948-49, US and British planes supplied Berlin with 2.3 million tons of material and provisions. Between 1938 and 1950, passenger transportation worldwide multiplied by 17, airmail services by 6 and air freight by 45. Airlines made profitable use of their passenger plane holds and began operating all-cargo flights, such as Air France’s Paris/Algiers route. The first freight airlines appeared.
Freight in the jet age — In the 1960s, with the arrival of jet planes, air freight began to develop on an industrial scale. Aircraft hold capacity grew from 20 m3 in the Lockheed Super Constellation to 40 m3 in the Boeing 707. Airlines modernized their fleets, recycling hundreds of piston-engine craft as freight carriers. In 1963, the first cargo jets went into service. A Boeing 707-320C—named Pélican at Air France—carried 40 tons of merchandise. The newly invented freight container optimized capacity. As costs fell, air freight became a more major factor in international trade; in 1955, 13,000 tons of goods were transported across the North Atlantic; fifteen years later, the figure stood at 410,000 tons. Freight represented 22 percent of Air France’s business by the early 1970s. Air France Cargo was set up in 1972. The cargo version of the wide-body Boeing 747 (Super Pélican), which could carry up to 114 tons of freight, joined Air France Cargo in 1974. However, the oil crisis had a devastating effect on air freight transportation. The emergence of new charter companies and express delivery couriers took air transportation in new directions. DHL was set up in 1968, FedEx® in 1973, and UPS joined the fray in 1982.
Air France, an early player — Since the 1980s-90s, the air freight sector has undergone a gradual redistribution, between all-cargo airlines (10 percent in 1996), “integrated” express courier airlines (15 percent), passenger airlines (39 percent) and passenger airlines with their own cargo aircraft (36 percent). Air France belongs to this category, although it carries freight mainly in the holds of passenger aircraft. Associated with KLM in the AIR FRANCE KLM Cargo group, the airline ranks second worldwide in this sector.
