Cargo airline

Updated on Oct 05, 2024

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Cargo airlines (or airfreight 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.

Logistics

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.

Aircraft used

Larger cargo airlines tend to use new or recently built aircraft to carry their freight, but many use older aircraft, like the Boeing 707, Boeing 727, Douglas DC-8, DC-10, MD-11, Airbus A300, and the Ilyushin Il-76. Examples of the 60-year-old Douglas DC-3 are still flying around the world carrying cargo (as well as passengers). Short range turboprop airliners such as the An-12, 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.

Antonov An-225 Mriya and Antonov An-124 are the world's largest aircraft, used for transporting large shipments and oversized cargos.

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.

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. However, cargo planes in the United States are forbidden from carrying non-employee passengers.

Top 10 cargo airlines

By freight tonne-kilometres flown (millions):

All-cargo

Some of the largest all-cargo carriers are:

ABX Air

AeroLogic

AirBridge Cargo

Amerijet International, Inc.

BAX Global

Cargolux

DHL

Blue Dart Aviation

DHL Aero Expreso

DHL Air UK

DHL de Guatemala

DHL Ecuador

DHL International Aviation ME

European Air Transport Leipzig

FedEx Express

Kalitta Air

Martinair

Nippon Cargo Airlines

Polar Air Cargo

TNT Airways

UPS Airlines

All-cargo subsidiary

Freight divisions of passenger airlines operating their own or leased freighter aircraft, some have shut down or merged with others.

Aeroflot-Cargo

Air Canada Cargo

Air China Cargo

Air France Cargo

Air Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific)

Air India Cargo

Air Macau Cargo

ANA Cargo

Asiana Cargo

Avianca Cargo

Cathay Pacific Cargo

China Airlines Cargo

China Cargo Airlines (China Eastern Airlines)

China Southern Cargo

Delta Air Freight

EgyptAir Cargo

EL AL Cargo

Emirates SkyCargo

Ethiopian Airlines Cargo

Etihad Crystal Cargo

EVA Air Cargo

Finnair Cargo

Hong Kong Airlines Cargo

IAG Cargo

Icelandair Cargo

Iran Air Cargo

LAN Cargo

Qatar Airways Cargo

Royal Jordanian Cargo

Saudi Arabian Airlines Cargo

Shanghai Airlines Cargo

Singapore Airlines Cargo

South African Airways Cargo

TAM Cargo

Turkish Airlines Cargo

Uzbekistan Airways Cargo

Yakutia Airlines Cargo

Freight divisions without fleet using passenger aircraft belly hold or having other cargo airlines fly on their behalf, some of these previously had freighters:

Alaska Air Cargo (2 cargo planes, 13 on order)

American Airlines Freight

British Airways World Cargo (opb Global Supply, three a/c to be in full BA Cargo scheme)

Caribbean Airlines

Cargo Garuda Indonesia

Czech Airlines Cargo

Delta Airlines Cargo

Dragon Air Cargo

Gol Transportes Aéreos

Gulf Air Cargo

Hainan Airlines Cargo

Iberia Cargo