Full planes and fond farewells: air cargo does Miami

The weather was dreadful, the blueberries were under suspicion, and there were people dressed as rats outside the convention centre. Inside, however, air cargo was in a remarkably good mood.

At TIACA’s Air Cargo Forum in Miami this week, the airlines had turned up in force, people wanted to do business, and anyone with a freighter on the transpacific had particular reason to enjoy themselves. (Although there may be less enjoyment from anyone trying to book space on it.)

One word that was heard surprisingly little was “peak”. The conversations were about strong demand from the AI sector continuing well beyond the point at which the industry traditionally takes down the decorations and starts worrying again. Various forecasts put next year’s demand growth at 5% or more; expectations for capacity growth were more mixed. But, having covered this industry for over a decade, I’ve never heard so many airlines crying-out for freighter capacity, normally a risky business. Conversions have shot up in price; and the delivery dates stretching out over the next several years may perhaps come too late for this current rush.

Adding to the uncertainty were rumours in Miami that Boeing might not make use of its FAA exemption to keep delivering the current 777 freighter beyond 2027. Unconfirmed, but hardly comforting for anyone hoping the aircraft shortage might resolve itself.

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