The international air cargo market undergoes a crisis again

Created on 15.03.2022 15:14

Air cargo rates, reaching a peak during the pandemic, have begun to ease slightly in recent months. Supply chains have already experienced a severe overload during the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the flight duration to Asia has been increased by decreasing the carrying capacity owing to the mutual closure of the Russian airspace and most Western countries.

Major European trading hubs, such as Amsterdam, London, Helsinki and Stockholm lie across Russian airspace, sometimes over part of Ukraine. Bypassing the airspace of these countries forces carriers to use routes through the south, thereby adding 1-3 hours to the flight. These measures will inevitably lead to delivery delays, increased transit times and cancellations if airlines find the new routes not economically viable. In many cases there will be a need for a technical stopover and sometimes a crew rotation.

Another significant negative factor is the ban for flights operated by Russian companies, in particular, taking out the AirBridgeCargo airline (part of the Volga-Dnepr Group) equipped with a fleet of 17 cargo Boeing 747-400/8 and one B-777F. Being one of the largest cargo carriers worldwide, AirBridgeCargo has ranked high among Asia, Europe and the USA. For now, airline can continue flying to a number of destinations, but the entire route network has been already disrupted that means that the market will lose a significant stock capacity.

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