What Do Air Freight Carriers Do?

An air freight carrier is an airline which is dedicated toand they operate an international service through
the transportation of cargo and in some cases theytheir air hubs in Miami, Hamilton, Cologne, Taipei and
may be a division or subsidiary of a larger passengerthe Philippines. Because of this they are able to
airline service such as BA, United Airlines etc.manage the flow of goods to more than 200
The major companies known for their air freightcountries and territories around the world.
carrier services are Federal Express or as they areOften these companies will use new or recently built
now more commonly known Fed-Ex whoaircraft in order to carry the freight, whilst some
commenced trading in 1973 and now have annualcompanies still prefer to use the old stables such as
revenues of $21.4 billion. They employ over 140,000the Boeing 707, Boeing 727 and Douglas DC-8 to
staff worldwide and have access to more than 375name but a few. There are even some old Douglas
airports across the globe. Their main aircraft thatDC-3's (now more than 60 years old) still being used
they use in order to transport air freight arein order to not just carry cargo but passengers as
Airbuses, ATRs and Boeings (they have a total ofwell around the world.
674 aircraft worldwide).In 2004 the total scheduled freight ton that was
Then there is UPS who were founded in the US inflown around the world amounted to 72,686 million
1907 and has now grown to a $42.6 billion corporationand the largest of all the air freight carriers during this
and since 1982 when UPS Air Cargo was set up toperiod was Federal Express with 14,579 million ton of
provide a way for customers to move their freightfreight. Whilst the total amount for international
shipments. Although their all points international air hubscheduled flights that was sent in 2004 amounted to
is located in Louisville, Kentucky they do have other60,750 million ton and the domestic amount for the
regional hubs located in strategic cities around the USUK in this period amounted to 18,217 million tons.