Cargo airline

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A Boeing 777F of FedEx Express, which is the largest cargo airline in the world.
Unit load device LD3 containers being loaded into the belly cargo hold of a Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft
A Boeing 747-400F of Cargolux

Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airline cargo traffic represented 262,333 million tonne-kilometres with a 49.3% load factor: 52.1% for dedicated cargo operations, and 47.9% within mixed operations (belly freight of passenger airliners).[1]

Dedicated cargo airlines such as FedEx, UPS, and DHL, operate a fleet of cargo aircraft and handle the entire freight transportation process. Many airlines, like Emirates and Qatar Airways, have dedicated cargo divisions that operate their own fleet of cargo aircraft alongside their passenger operations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines like American Airlines, Air Canada, and Delta Air Lines utilized their passenger planes, removing seats to create space for cargo, to meet the demand for freight transport.[2][3]

Pilots

[edit]

A higher proportion of cargo flights are red-eye (overnight flights) than passenger flights. Compared to passenger airline pilots, cargo pilots are paid less but do not have to be responsible for passengers. Cargo pilots also have better job security due to air freight demand being more stable, as opposed to passenger airlines which often furlough their pilots in response to falling passenger demand.[4]

Freight rates

[edit]

Air freight offers the fastest way to move cargo across long distances.[5][6]

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, adjusted cargo capacity fell by 4.4% in February while air cargo demand also fell by 9.1%, but the near-halt in passenger traffic cut capacity even deeper as half of global air cargo is carried in passenger jets’ bellies. Air freight rates rose as a consequence, from $0.80 per kg for transatlantic cargoes to $2.50-4 per kg, enticing passenger airlines to operate cargo-only flights through the use of preighters, while cargo airlines bring back into service fuel-guzzling stored aircraft, helped by falling oil prices.[7]

Logistics

[edit]
UPS hub at Louisville International Airport

Air transport is a component of many international logistics networks, managing and controlling the flow of goods, energy, information and other resources like products, services, and people, from the source of production to the marketplace. Logistics involves the geographical repositioning of raw materials, work in process, and finished inventories.[8]

Aircraft used

[edit]
The Antonov An-225, formerly the world's largest aircraft, used by Antonov Airlines before its destruction in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Larger cargo airlines tend to use new or recently built aircraft to carry their freight.[9] Current passenger aircraft such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 offer freighter variants either from new the factory or as a conversion. Compared to the passenger variant, the freighter has a supernumerary area, which includes four business-class seats forward of the rigid cargo barrier, full main deck access, bunks, and a galley. Passenger planes converted to freighters have their windows plugged, passenger doors deactivated, fuselage and floor reinforced, and a main-deck cargo door installed.

Many cargo airlines still utilize older aircraft, including those no longer suited for passenger service, like the Boeing 727, Douglas DC-8, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, McDonnell Douglas MD-11, Airbus A300, and the Ilyushin Il-76. Examples of the 80+-year-old Douglas DC-3 are still flying around the world carrying cargo (as well as passengers). Short range turboprop airliners such as the Antonov An-12, Antonov An-26, Fokker Friendship, and British Aerospace ATP are being modified to accept standard air freight pallets to extend their working lives. This normally involves the replacement of glazed windows with opaque panels, the strengthening of the cabin floor and insertion of a broad top-hinged door in one side of the fuselage.

The Antonov An-225 Mriya, an enlarged version of the Antonov An-124 Ruslan, was the world's largest aircraft, used for transporting large shipments and oversized cargos.[10][11]

Usage of large military airplanes for commercial purposes, pioneered by Ukraine's Antonov Airlines in the 1990s, has allowed new types of cargo in aerial transportation.

Passenger and cargo

[edit]

In the past, some cargo airlines would carry a few passengers from time to time on flights, and UPS Airlines once unsuccessfully tried a passenger charter airline division.

Passenger airlines regularly use their largest passenger aircraft like the Boeing 777-300 to earn additional revenue beyond passengers on a scheduled flight, by transporting a limited amount of cargo alongside passengers' luggage underneath the passenger cabin.[12] This is known as mixed operations or belly freight, and makes up 47.9% airline cargo traffic as of 2018.[1] Alaska Airlines operates a series of short flights nicknamed the "Milk Run" to small towns in Southeast Alaska that do not have road access, using five Boeing 737-400 Combi aircraft whose cabin is divided in half with cargo up front and 72 seats in the back.[13]

Low-cost carriers do not tend to operate cargo subsidiaries.[citation needed]

Types of cargo airlines

[edit]

Several airlines dominate the sector.[14][15]

Top 10 cargo carriers in ctk (m)

[edit]
FedEx Express, the largest airline by freight tonne-kilometres flown
Rank[16]AirlineCountry2024202320222021202020192018
1FedEx Express United States18,13317,92319,54720,66019,65617,50317,499
2Qatar Airways Cargo Qatar15,21114,40614,26716,10213,74013,02412,695
3UPS Airlines United States15,09414,23915,88915,52914,37112,84212,459
4Emirates SkyCargo United Arab Emirates12,35410,63610,15311,8429,56912,05212,713
5Atlas Air United States11,9428,9158,6758,4415,458 #124,522 #164,553 #16
6Korean Air Cargo South Korea8,7288,4119,51810,4298,1047,4127,839
7Turkish Cargo Turkey10,2408,3258,3189,2236,9777,0295,890
8Cathay Pacific Cargo Hong Kong8,5038,0995,774 #138,2158,13710,93011,284
9China Southern Airlines Cargo China8,6537,6106,9158,0786,5916,8256,597
10Cargolux Luxembourg8,2636,8077,9718,5877,3457,1807,322

Largest cargo carriers

[edit]
Boeing 777 of the FedEx Express
A300 of European Air Transport, a subsidiary of DHL Aviation
My Freighter Airlines Boeing 767-300F night landing in Tashkent Airport, Uzbekistan

Some more large cargo carriers are:[17]

All-cargo subsidiary

[edit]
747-8 of Qatar Airways Cargo, the largest all-cargo subsidiary
747-400BCF of Thai Airways International

The following are freight divisions of passenger airlines operating their own or leased freighter aircraft. Some have shut down or merged with others:[18]

The following are freight divisions without freighter fleets, using passenger aircraft holds or having other cargo airlines fly on their behalf. Some of these previously had freighters:

These carriers operate freighter aircraft but do not have cargo divisions:

These carriers operate freighter aircraft exclusively

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "World Air Transport Statistics" (PDF). IATA. 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-15. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  2. ^ Asquith, James (March 28, 2020). "Commercial Airlines Are Now Operating Cargo-Only Flights". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  3. ^ Kulisch, Eric (2020-03-27). "Passenger airlines morph into cargo carriers". FreightWaves. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  4. ^ Cargo Pilot, flycanada.org.
  5. ^ "Aircraft: the role of freighters – past, present and future", Air Cargo Management, Routledge, pp. 153–160, 2016-12-16, ISBN 978-1-315-62016-9, retrieved 2025-07-11
  6. ^ "Flying high: Understanding air freight and when to use it". www.maersk.com. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  7. ^ Cirium (3 April 2020). "Freight rates on the rise amid slump in passenger flights". Flightglobal.
  8. ^ Stattimes, Media (3 Oct 2020). "How these trends are shaping up the future of logistics". Stattimes. Stattimes. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 3 Oct 2020.
  9. ^ "Cargo Freighter Aircraft | AirFreight.com". www.airfreight.com. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  10. ^ "Chapman Freeborn charters first AN-225 to South America". Chapman Freeborn Airchartering.
  11. ^ "Argentina's First Satellite Delivered on AN-124 Cargo Charter". Chapman Freeborn Airchartering. 2 October 2014.
  12. ^ "Boeing 777-300". ANA Cargo (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-12-27.
  13. ^ Cosgrove, Cole (2015-06-11). "The Milk Run is a hop, skip and a jump along Southeast Alaska's coast". Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Horizon Air. Retrieved 2025-12-27.
  14. ^ Lee, Jeff (2020-09-16). "7 airlines with the most cargo-only flights". CARGOFACTS.COM. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  15. ^ Kulisch, Eric (2021-03-29). "Who is king of cargo-only passenger flights?". FreightWaves. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
  16. ^ "Top 25 cargo airlines: Goes Slow on Growth in 2023". 2 September 2024.
  17. ^ "Top 25 cargo airlines 2018: FedEx at the top as Qatar closes in on Emirates". 15 July 2019.
  18. ^ "World's 50 largest air cargo carriers in 2014: FedEx leading the way". Air Cargo News. 15 September 2015.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cargo airlines.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cargo_airline&oldid=1329702209"
    A Boeing 777F of FedEx Express, which is the largest cargo airline in the world.
    Unit load device LD3 containers being loaded into the belly cargo hold of a Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft
    A Boeing 747-400F of Cargolux

    Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airline cargo traffic represented 262,333 million tonne-kilometres with a 49.3% load factor: 52.1% for dedicated cargo operations, and 47.9% within mixed operations (belly freight of passenger airliners).[1]

    Dedicated cargo airlines such as FedEx, UPS, and DHL, operate a fleet of cargo aircraft and handle the entire freight transportation process. Many airlines, like Emirates and Qatar Airways, have dedicated cargo divisions that operate their own fleet of cargo aircraft alongside their passenger operations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines like American Airlines, Air Canada, and Delta Air Lines utilized their passenger planes, removing seats to create space for cargo, to meet the demand for freight transport.[2][3]

    Pilots

    A higher proportion of cargo flights are red-eye (overnight flights) than passenger flights. Compared to passenger airline pilots, cargo pilots are paid less but do not have to be responsible for passengers. Cargo pilots also have better job security due to air freight demand being more stable, as opposed to passenger airlines which often furlough their pilots in response to falling passenger demand.[4]

    Freight rates

    Air freight offers the fastest way to move cargo across long distances.[5][6]

    Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, adjusted cargo capacity fell by 4.4% in February while air cargo demand also fell by 9.1%, but the near-halt in passenger traffic cut capacity even deeper as half of global air cargo is carried in passenger jets’ bellies. Air freight rates rose as a consequence, from $0.80 per kg for transatlantic cargoes to $2.50-4 per kg, enticing passenger airlines to operate cargo-only flights through the use of preighters, while cargo airlines bring back into service fuel-guzzling stored aircraft, helped by falling oil prices.[7]

    Logistics

    UPS hub at Louisville International Airport

    Air transport is a component of many international logistics networks, managing and controlling the flow of goods, energy, information and other resources like products, services, and people, from the source of production to the marketplace. Logistics involves the geographical repositioning of raw materials, work in process, and finished inventories.[8]

    Aircraft used

    The Antonov An-225, formerly the world's largest aircraft, used by Antonov Airlines before its destruction in the Russo-Ukrainian War

    Larger cargo airlines tend to use new or recently built aircraft to carry their freight.[9] Current passenger aircraft such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 offer freighter variants either from new the factory or as a conversion. Compared to the passenger variant, the freighter has a supernumerary area, which includes four business-class seats forward of the rigid cargo barrier, full main deck access, bunks, and a galley. Passenger planes converted to freighters have their windows plugged, passenger doors deactivated, fuselage and floor reinforced, and a main-deck cargo door installed.

    Many cargo airlines still utilize older aircraft, including those no longer suited for passenger service, like the Boeing 727, Douglas DC-8, McDonnell Douglas DC-10, McDonnell Douglas MD-11, Airbus A300, and the Ilyushin Il-76. Examples of the 80+-year-old Douglas DC-3 are still flying around the world carrying cargo (as well as passengers). Short range turboprop airliners such as the Antonov An-12, Antonov An-26, Fokker Friendship, and British Aerospace ATP are being modified to accept standard air freight pallets to extend their working lives. This normally involves the replacement of glazed windows with opaque panels, the strengthening of the cabin floor and insertion of a broad top-hinged door in one side of the fuselage.

    The Antonov An-225 Mriya, an enlarged version of the Antonov An-124 Ruslan, was the world's largest aircraft, used for transporting large shipments and oversized cargos.[10][11]

    Usage of large military airplanes for commercial purposes, pioneered by Ukraine's Antonov Airlines in the 1990s, has allowed new types of cargo in aerial transportation.

    Passenger and cargo

    In the past, some cargo airlines would carry a few passengers from time to time on flights, and UPS Airlines once unsuccessfully tried a passenger charter airline division.

    Passenger airlines regularly use their largest passenger aircraft like the Boeing 777-300 to earn additional revenue beyond passengers on a scheduled flight, by transporting a limited amount of cargo alongside passengers' luggage underneath the passenger cabin.[12] This is known as mixed operations or belly freight, and makes up 47.9% airline cargo traffic as of 2018.[1] Alaska Airlines operates a series of short flights nicknamed the "Milk Run" to small towns in Southeast Alaska that do not have road access, using five Boeing 737-400 Combi aircraft whose cabin is divided in half with cargo up front and 72 seats in the back.[13]

    Low-cost carriers do not tend to operate cargo subsidiaries.[citation needed]

    Types of cargo airlines

    Several airlines dominate the sector.[14][15]

    Top 10 cargo carriers in ctk (m)

    FedEx Express, the largest airline by freight tonne-kilometres flown
    Rank[16]AirlineCountry2024202320222021202020192018
    1FedEx Express United States18,13317,92319,54720,66019,65617,50317,499
    2Qatar Airways Cargo Qatar15,21114,40614,26716,10213,74013,02412,695
    3UPS Airlines United States15,09414,23915,88915,52914,37112,84212,459
    4Emirates SkyCargo United Arab Emirates12,35410,63610,15311,8429,56912,05212,713
    5Atlas Air United States11,9428,9158,6758,4415,458 #124,522 #164,553 #16
    6Korean Air Cargo South Korea8,7288,4119,51810,4298,1047,4127,839
    7Turkish Cargo Turkey10,2408,3258,3189,2236,9777,0295,890
    8Cathay Pacific Cargo Hong Kong8,5038,0995,774 #138,2158,13710,93011,284
    9China Southern Airlines Cargo China8,6537,6106,9158,0786,5916,8256,597
    10Cargolux Luxembourg8,2636,8077,9718,5877,3457,1807,322

    Largest cargo carriers

    Boeing 777 of the FedEx Express
    A300 of European Air Transport, a subsidiary of DHL Aviation
    My Freighter Airlines Boeing 767-300F night landing in Tashkent Airport, Uzbekistan

    Some more large cargo carriers are:[17]

    All-cargo subsidiary

    747-8 of Qatar Airways Cargo, the largest all-cargo subsidiary
    747-400BCF of Thai Airways International

    The following are freight divisions of passenger airlines operating their own or leased freighter aircraft. Some have shut down or merged with others:[18]

    The following are freight divisions without freighter fleets, using passenger aircraft holds or having other cargo airlines fly on their behalf. Some of these previously had freighters:

    These carriers operate freighter aircraft but do not have cargo divisions:

    These carriers operate freighter aircraft exclusively

    See also

    References

    1. ^ a b "World Air Transport Statistics" (PDF). IATA. 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-08-15. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
    2. ^ Asquith, James (March 28, 2020). "Commercial Airlines Are Now Operating Cargo-Only Flights". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
    3. ^ Kulisch, Eric (2020-03-27). "Passenger airlines morph into cargo carriers". FreightWaves. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
    4. ^ Cargo Pilot, flycanada.org.
    5. ^ "Aircraft: the role of freighters – past, present and future", Air Cargo Management, Routledge, pp. 153–160, 2016-12-16, ISBN 978-1-315-62016-9, retrieved 2025-07-11
    6. ^ "Flying high: Understanding air freight and when to use it". www.maersk.com. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
    7. ^ Cirium (3 April 2020). "Freight rates on the rise amid slump in passenger flights". Flightglobal.
    8. ^ Stattimes, Media (3 Oct 2020). "How these trends are shaping up the future of logistics". Stattimes. Stattimes. Archived from the original on 2020-11-30. Retrieved 3 Oct 2020.
    9. ^ "Cargo Freighter Aircraft | AirFreight.com". www.airfreight.com. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
    10. ^ "Chapman Freeborn charters first AN-225 to South America". Chapman Freeborn Airchartering.
    11. ^ "Argentina's First Satellite Delivered on AN-124 Cargo Charter". Chapman Freeborn Airchartering. 2 October 2014.
    12. ^ "Boeing 777-300". ANA Cargo (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-12-27.
    13. ^ Cosgrove, Cole (2015-06-11). "The Milk Run is a hop, skip and a jump along Southeast Alaska's coast". Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Horizon Air. Retrieved 2025-12-27.
    14. ^ Lee, Jeff (2020-09-16). "7 airlines with the most cargo-only flights". CARGOFACTS.COM. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
    15. ^ Kulisch, Eric (2021-03-29). "Who is king of cargo-only passenger flights?". FreightWaves. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
    16. ^ "Top 25 cargo airlines: Goes Slow on Growth in 2023". 2 September 2024.
    17. ^ "Top 25 cargo airlines 2018: FedEx at the top as Qatar closes in on Emirates". 15 July 2019.
    18. ^ "World's 50 largest air cargo carriers in 2014: FedEx leading the way". Air Cargo News. 15 September 2015.
    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cargo airlines.
    • "Air Freight: A Market Study with Implications for Landlocked Countries" (PDF). World Bank. August 2009.
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cargo_airline&oldid=1329702209"