History of air freight

This article is all about the history of air cargo. It has been covered the various aspects of the history of shipping, railroads, and trucking. We all know that it is the Wright brothers, namely Orville and Wilbur Wright, who invented and flew the first airplane on December 17, 1903. Since then, air travel has taken place in the world of history. Today, airplanes allow quick travel for millions of people every day across the world. Also, millions of packages have been shipped using air freight daily and then developed rockets to the start of man’s exploration of space.

In addition, there was a development of all-freight airlines. Besides the advances in the strongest US economy and aircraft in decades, it is quite complicated for businessmen to start air freight companies due to opposition from the established passenger carriers. It was believed by the executives of the passenger airlines that all-freight airlines would undermine the commercial aviation sector by providing irregular services and lower rates. The passenger-focused airlines were of small all-cargo operations such as Slick Airways, California Eastern, Flying Tiger, and more. Fortunately, all of these all-cargo airlines got permission to operate by CAB in August 1949.

Mainly, airplanes were designed to be used as a new machine for wars. After World War I, the pilots of America, and other aviation fanatics used to keep aeroplanes to make them feasible commercially. They were aiming to convince the U.S. businesses and military as well to assist in enlarging the nascent aircraft industry of the country. American Railway Express used to carry 1,100 pounds of cargo in 1919 right from Washington D.C. to Chicago. During World War I, a bomber was utilized for the flight, and it has been forced to land the flight in Ohio due to a frozen radiator. However, the company carried on with the airfreight experiment.

In fact, a lot of airlines were started in the 1920s. And from there, various flew freight progressed as the decade. After 100 years, their freight was often merchandise or mechanical parts that were required quickly. In most of the decades, air freight was mainly a novelty. In 1919, the International Air Traffic Association was established and this year was the year of the first international scheduled air service of the world. Its successors were established prior to the end of World War II.  The IATA (International Air Transport Association) was created using 57 airlines at a conference conducted in Havana on April 19, 1945.

However, today, it is still operating on behalf of the industry with 290 member airlines, especially major carriers that represent 117 nations. With the use of technology made during World War II and a large amount of aircraft from different air forces, the industry of airfreight developed in the post-war years. The commercial airlines shifted to the sector aggressively. Furthermore, companies were started by dedicating to all freight airlines. No matter what, it was a huge event in post-war Europe that exhibited the ability to utilize aircraft to move freight. Also, the Berlin Airlift triggered public interest in air freight that never had done anything else in a similar way.

After the war, German was jointly under the control of France, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and the USSR. The country has been classified into zones authorized by those four powers. Berlin city was even divided into the same sectors. One of the first huge international crises of the Cold War was the Berlin Blockade occurred from June 24, 1948, till May 12, 1949. As the Soviet Union blocked the Allies’ railway, canal, and road access of Berlin, an airlift was the only feasible approach to have increasingly urgent deliveries of coal, food, and other supplies to West Berlin, of course. 

 

Air Freight Service After 1990

The number of air freight actually enlarged during the 1990s due to the rise of UPS, FedEx, and their competitors in express parcel delivery. Moreover, technology even formed higher traffic in this stream. All credit goes to the internet that can track real-time flight data with increased visibility within the industry of air freight Australia. It was the growth of global e-commerce that fueled the growth of air cargo and air freight service as well. Nowadays, transferring goods from one place to another has become a business practice. In the past decade, the blast of e-commerce has made the establishment of air freight even more central to the world economy.