Air cargo

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Volga-Dnepr An-124 ready for loading.
Air Cargo is any property carried or to be carried in an aircraft. Air cargo comprises air freight, air
express and airmail.
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Contents
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1 Aircraft types
2 History
o 2.1 Early years
o 2.2 Post-war years
o 2.3 Modern air cargo
3 References
Aircraft types[edit]
Cargo can be transported by passenger, cargo or combi aircraft:
Passenger aircraft use the spare volume in the airplane's baggage hold (the "belly") that is not
being used for passenger luggage - a common practice used bypassenger airlines, who
additionally transport cargo on scheduled passenger flights. - this practice is known as Belly
Cargo. Cargo can also be transported in thepassenger cabin as hand-carry by an on-board
courier.
Cargo aircraft are dedicated for the job - they carry freight on the main deck and in the belly by
means of nose-loading or side loading.
Combi aircraft carries cargo on the main deck behind the passengers area with side loading and
in the belly.
History[edit]
Early years[edit]


Loading airmail, late 1930s, Detroit.
The first cargo flight took place on the 7 November 1910 in the USA,
between Dayton and Columbus, Ohio. Philip Orin Parmelee piloted a Wright Model B aeroplane 65
miles (105 km) carrying a package of 200 pounds of silk for the opening of a store. Newspaper
clippings quoted the Wright brothers as stating he covered the distance in 66 minutes, but the flight
was officially recorded at 57 minutes, a world speed record at the time. It was the first cargo only
flight solely for the transport of goods; the first flight commissioned by a client, and the first example
of multimodal air transport, since the pieces of silk were transported by car from Columbus
aerodrome to the store.
The world's first official airmail flight took place on 18 February 1911, at a large exhibition in
the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India. The organizer of the aviation display, Sir
Walter George Windham, was able to secure permission from the postmaster general in India to
operate an airmail service in order to generate publicity for the exhibition and to raise money for
charity. This first airmail flight was piloted by Henri Pequet, who flew 6,500 letters a distance of
13 km (8.1 mi), from Allahabad to Naini - the nearest station on the Bombay-Calcutta line to the
exhibition. The aircraft used was a Humber-Sommer biplane with about fifty horsepower (37 kW),
and it made the journey in thirteen minutes. The world's first scheduled airmail post service took
place in the United Kingdom between the London suburb of Hendon, and the Postmaster General's
office in Windsor, Berkshire, on September 9, 1911. It was part of the celebrations for King George
V's coronation and at the suggestion of Sir Windham, who based his proposal on the successful
experiment he had overseen in India. The service ran for just under a month, transporting 35 bags of
mail in 16 flights.
In the early 20s, air cargo developed rapidly because numerous entrepreneurs realized aircraft could
move high value and low volume consignments much faster than the railroads and shipping
companies. The first scheduled flight from London to Paris in 1919 had only one passenger but
carried leather for a shoe manufacturer and grouse for a restaurant. Cinema films were also a
frequent consignment: original news bulletins were first carried to a central laboratory to make
copies, and then distributed by air throughout Europe for their release in cinemas.
Post-war years[edit]


First Lady Pat Nixon visits the cockpit of the first commercial 747 during the christening ceremony, January 15, 1970.
Although there were a few attempts to organize air freight airlines from the 1920s on, the first
commercial airlines that were all-cargo did not emerge until after World War II. In 1945, at a
conference in Havana, 57 airlines formed the International Air Transport Association.
In 1948 Berlin was jointly controlled by the Allies and Russians, although the Russians held the area
surrounding the city and thus land access. As this access was closed, in the so-called Berlin
blockade, an airlift remained the only option to get increasingly urgent deliveries of food, coal, and
other supplies to West Berlin. Over 330 days to 12 May 1949 a total of 2.26 million tons of cargo
were airlifted to Berlin, an average of 6,800 tons a day, 80% by the US and 20% by the UK.
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Although freight traffic developed modestly, reaching only 800,000 tonnes worldwide by the mid-
1950s, the world economy was hitting its post-war stride. Germany and Japan were emerging from
their period of purgatory and were poised to take the world of business by storm, the United States
was approaching the height of its economic dominance, and Western Europe had recovered from
the war. In 1968, Boeing launched the four engine 747, the first wide-body aircraft. The 747 was the
first aircraft capable of transporting full pallets in the cargo hold, revolutionizing the air cargo
industry.
Modern air cargo[edit]


FedEx McDonnell Douglas: MD-11F


ATRAN Antonov An-12 still operational after 47 years (2011)
Despite widespread hopes for a vibrant industry, for decades the air freight did not grow as expected
and remained a very small part of total air traffic. For much of the first five post-war decades most
carriers saw it as a secondary activity, although there had always been specialized cargo airlines.
Some passenger airlines have found the practice of carrying "belly cargo" a highly lucrative
enterprise (in fact, it is estimated that 50% of all air freight is moved in this way), to the point where it
has lessened the demand for dedicated large cargo aircraft.
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Cargo emerged as a solid pillar of the industry in 1990s. The catalysts for the renewed growth in the
sector were the express parcel carriers, typified by FedEx, DHL, TNT and UPS, and changes in
practices in the manufacturing sector. In 1992, FedEx sent software on computer disks to thousands
of customers, allowing them to track shipments from their own workstations.
The rise of internet during in the years that followed contributed to increase the reliability and
accessibility to the air cargo industry. Most airlines now offer to their customers real-time flight status
and the booking and tracking options. In addition, the industry is adopting electronic procedures,
such as the electronic air waybill, to reduce the amount of paper documentation accompanying each
shipment and increasing the security and safety of the transportation.
An industry expert estimates that 15-20 tonnes of air cargo is worth 30-40 economy passenger
seats, when both are on passenger planes.
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