Question

1) Explain the origins of the air cargo industry and how it has expanded over time. Research the history of an air cargo company and summarize.

2) Describe the various types of air cargo carriers.

3) Describe the airline scheduling process. What components are taken into consideration?

4) Identify and explain operational factors involved in scheduling. Find an airline and one of its hub airports in which it operates. Explain the operational factors at this airport, ATC, the aircraft and the airline that affects scheduling.

Answer 1

1. explain the origins of the air cargo industry and how it has expanded over time. Research the history of an air cargo company and summarize.

The first cargo flight took place in 1910 in the USA . it was piloted Philip Orin while carrying a package of 200 pounds of silk for opening a store. The flight covered a distance of 65 miles in 57 minutes, which was a record time then. The worlds first official airmail flight happened in 1911 in India. It was piloted by Henri Pequet, who covered a distance of 13 km, flying 6,500 letters. The journey took about 13 minutes, with a plane with a fifty horsepower engine. In the first month, 35 bags of mail were transported by 26 flights. Te air cargo gained momentum in the early 1920s since businesses were shifting from rail, road and ship to air transport. People realized that they could transport high-value goods and low volume consignments much faster through the air. The first flight that was scheduled from London to Paris had only one passenger, and leather for shoe, and grouse for a restaurant. Even with the efforts to fly the first cargo in the 1920s, the first commercial airline that was all-cargo took place after World War II. 57 aeroplanes merged together to form the International Air Transport Association in 1945. By 1949, about 3 million tons of cargo had been airlifted to Berlin. Per day, an average of 6,800 tons was transported. 80% of this cargo was airlifted by the US while 20% by the UK. By mid-1950S, about 800,000 tons were airlifted globally. In 1968, Boeing launched the four engines 747, which was the first aircraft capable of transporting full pallets. In the 1980s, the air cargo contributed very little in the total air traffic. However, it emerged as a solid pillar in the industry in the 1990s. Express parcel carriers were the major catalysts of rapid growth. The rise of the use of internet in the 2000s increased the reliability of the air cargo industry. After 010, the industry had adopted electronic procedures which enhanced booking and tracking options. Currently, air cargo plays a critical role in the general flight industry and contributes to the majority of revenue collection. There has been a steady rise in freight tone kilometres in the past 3 years.
FedEx started as Federal Express by Fred Smith in 1971. It is the largest cargo airline in the world with annual revenues of $40 billion. Fred started the company after graduating from Yale, with $4 million he inherited from his father and $91 million of venture capital. The company operated in losses in its first three years despite being the most financed new company in US history. The company made its first profit of $3.6 million in 1976 based on the transportation of 19,000 packages a day. The deregulation of the industry in 1977 enabled the company to purchase large jets, hence increasing the number of packages airlifted per day. After the deregulation, the company bought seven Boeing 727 aircraft, increasing its annual sales by $110 million. In 1978, Federal Express became a public company. The company raised more capital for further expansion. In the same year, the company made profits of $21.4 million on sales. In the 1980s, the company introduced an overnight delivery package where they transport two ounces of documents for a flat fee of $9.50. the service increased the company’s sales significantly, making it the freight company with the largest sales. The company extended its services to Europe to increase its market share. By 1987, it had its presence in over 90 countries. In the 1990s, the company introduced volume discounts to counter stiff competition. In 1994 Federal Express adopted FedEx as its official name and acquired Caliber Systems to create the FDX Corporation in 1998. Currently, FedEx has a fleet of over 700 aircraft, representing the largest fleet of cargo aircraft

2. describe the various types of air cargo carriers.

All-cargo carriers – these planes are specialized in carrying only cargo. They do not transport people. They have fewer restrictions on weight and size.
Integrated express carrier – these carriers rely on a hub system since they require efficient transportation of shipments. This type of cargo carriers pick the shipment from the door of the pickup station and deliver it to the door of the delivery station.
Combination carriers – these types transport both people and cargo at the same time.
Passenger airlines – these companies only transport people from one location to another.

3. Describe the airline scheduling process. What components are taken into consideration?

The scheduling process starts with the identification of a market. The market can be exploited or even unserved. If it is unserved, the airline will announce its new schedule after an extensive feasibility study. The advertisement is made with a few days’ lead time to help passengers cancel or change travel plans. When airlines spring the new schedule, they avoid unnecessary competition from other airlines.
Since the scheduling process is mostly an optimization problem, airlines consider factors around customer convenience. Therefore airlines consider the arrivals and departure restrictions of some airports, preferences o business travellers and aviation regulations for the other terminals.

4. Identify and explain the operational factors involved in scheduling. Find an airline and one of its hub airports in which it operates. Explain the operational factors at this airport, ATC, the aircraft and the airline that affects scheduling.

Equipment maintenance – when scheduling, all routes must be coordinated for overall best service. All relevant stations must have the personnel for periodic mechanical checks.
Crews – all crews must have adequate training on each type of planes that are flown in the scheduled routes. All considerations of utilization and working conditions must be met. For instance, to maintain a certain monthly utilization plans, certain crew routings must be followed.
Facilities – airlines must have adequate gate spaces on airport ramps. Terminal capacities also must be expanded to meet growing market demands. Access to roadways must also be adequate.
Marketing factors – market size, trip length, time zones and other marketing factors must also be considered.
The United Emirates is one of the largest airlines in the world. Its hub airport is the Dubai International Airport. The ground handling services at this airport are handled by Dnata Ground Handling Services. Emirates company itself has over 2000 operational departments aircraft maintenance is overseen by the Emirates Engineering department based in Dubai. The department maintains all aircraft in the airport and tests the engine cells. The airport’s ATC system gets involved when the runaway landing capacity is fully used. It sues flight plans schedule and takes off schedules to manage arrivals. In some cases, flights are denied takeoff clearance especially when runaways are chockablock at the destinations. ATC may reroute flights when airways are congested. ATC can also lengthen routes which may cause late arrivals. Airlines and aircraft in this airport affect scheduling through scheduled block time setting.