Have you ever wondered how air freight came to be the global industry it is today?
It all began in 1910 when Philip Parmelee entered the annals of aviation history by flying the world’s first flight entirely devoted to carrying cargo. He flew a Wright Model B aeroplane some 65 miles from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio, carrying a parcel of silk weighing 91 kgs for the opening day sale of a retail store. Although this was no more than a demonstration, it brought out the huge potential which air transport had in moving commercial cargo.
World War I played a pivotal role in advancing aviation technology, primarily for military purposes. However, it also underscored the speed and strategic value of air transportation, laying the groundwork for the future of air freight.
Cargo carried by aircrafts became more extensive following the war. In 1919, the American Railway Express ambitiously attempted to airlift 499 kgs of freight from Washington, D.C. to Chicago with a converted WWI bomber. Unfortunately, the flight had to be aborted because of mechanical problems; it marked the beginning of serious experimentation with air cargo. Around this time, the International Air Traffic Association was formed, another significant step in giving air freight status as an industry in its own right.
The year 1925 saw Ford make another important contribution to the industry with the establishment of the Ford Air Transport Service, the world’s first regularly scheduled commercial cargo airline. Its maiden flight was made on April 14th, 1925 when the Maiden Detroit carried 453 kgs of freight between Ford factories in Detroit and Chicago.
In 1927, air freight in the United States continued its giant leap when National Air Transport delivered the first cargo shipment between Dallas and New York. American Railway Express forwarded with different smaller airlines an estimated 20,800 kgs of freight throughout that year.
The 1930s brought further consolidation within the industry. In 1934, Western Air Express-which in the preceding decade broke off from Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA)-briefly took the name of General Air Lines, going back to the old name in the same year. That same year, the company referred to itself as the Western Air Division of General Air Lines, the early days of corporate mergers and restructuring in aviation.
Air cargo started to get serious by the 1940s. On 14th March 1941, the most extensive airlines at that time, United Airlines, American Airlines, TWA, and Eastern Airlines combined to form Air Cargo, Inc. so that cargo delivery could be facilitated with much ease.
Only after the war did globalisation of air cargo really start to take place. On 19th April 1945, the International Air Transport Association – IATA – was formed at a conference in Havana, where 57 airlines joined together to establish international standards for air transport. A few months later, on 25th June, Flying Tiger Line was founded by Robert Prescott, a former WWII pilot who had flown C-46 “Flying Tigers”. It became the first scheduled air freight airline in the United States.
Emery Air Freight, now known as Emery Worldwide, was born in 1946. Emery became the first freight forwarder to be granted a carrier certificate from the U.S. government and was also acknowledged for almost 40 years as the largest freight forwarder in the country.
The Jet Age, beginning in the 1960s, totally changed the face of air freight. The introduction of jet-powered aircraft, such as the Boeing 707, and then the iconic Boeing 747 in 1969, transformed the industry. These jets were capable of carrying more volume at quicker speeds and over longer distances than any of their predecessors; thus, air freight became a much more practical and efficient means of conducting international trade.
The increased demand soon saw airlines designing planes purely for cargo. The Boeing 747F, and successive generations of specialized aircraft, has been and still is the backbone of global air cargo. Dedicated freight carriers like FedEx, founded in 1971, provided a pivotal impetus to its quick growth.
This was furthered also by the adoption of standardised shipping containers and the development of modern logistics hubs and air cargo terminals. In the case of Memphis International Airport, which would become the global hub of FedEx, the ease by which goods flow and the connectivity that it brought to global markets was something quite unprecedented at that time.
The history of air freight is one of innovation, persistence, and global collaboration. From early experimental flights right up to today’s slick, high-speed integrated global networks, air cargo has changed the way in which the world moves goods around the globe and has become indispensable to the global economy.
