Air Freight Industry

People were constantly looking for practical uses of airplanes during the early years of aviation. Humanity was amazed with the machines that enabled men to fly. The question what to do with them bothered everyone’s mind. The air freight industry began with the journey of a bolt of silk from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio in November 1910.

That decisive trip gave birth to the airfreight industry. After that event, everything just progressed to new heights for the air freight industry. One of the first of the airfreight industry is American Railway Express. Its name connected with the fact that before the advent of the airfreight industry, cargo was usually transported by train.

The airfreight industry made a lot of possible conveniences. One of the most important there was the matter of speed. The airfreight industry made possible for businesses to acquire various goods when they needed it. Also it saved a lot of money on storage and helped to meet order in time.

During the 1920’s, shipping of cargo via air become more popular. The National Air Transport Company was born in November 14, 1926. This company delivered the first air cargo in the United States in 1927. Many more companies were founded as promoters of the air freight industry. These companies did not make much profit, as the industry was comparative young.

As the air freight industry had stiff competition coming from passenger carriers that is why it got slow start. Many established passenger carriers opposed the establishment of an all-cargo air freight industry mainly because they feared it would destabilize the air industry.

Another reason why the air freight industry did not grow as many people hoped was that most businesses were unfit to support the huge losses associated with starting an air freight operation. While some people tried to remedy this by combining air freight with air passenger transport, they only succeeded in slowing down the industry.

The revolution of the air freight industry came about when a man named Fred Smith noticed that the common practice of combining air freight with passenger freight was highly inefficient. He proposed that air freights should have different flight patterns from passenger flights. He was successful in gathering funds mainly because of his proposal for a guaranteed next-day-delivery service. And so it was that in April 1973, the Federal Express began operations. Of course, the initial years of business were hard. However, after three years of flying cargo, the company was beginning to show profit.

By the 1980’s, Federal express was a household name. This just goes to show you how far a truly great idea can take you. Today, the air freight industry is booming and companies make millions of dollars in profits. That’s a far cry from the way that air freight businesses lost money in the past.