The ongoing humanitarian flights to earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria have no "sizeable" impact on freighter capacity at the moment, according to Glyn Hughes, director-general at The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA). 

During the recent TIACA Media Day, where the organization shared the latest developments about the association and its plans for 2023, Hughes said the slowdown in demand on the commercial side is allowing operators to deploy capacity for the transport of aid to Turkey and Syria following the deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the border area of the two countries on February 6.

"Right now, we’re not seeing any impact on the commercial cargo predominantly because of the softening of demand," Hughes told the press in attendance.

The TIACA director-general noted the situation when there was "such a huge demand for cargo capacity" moving PPE and vaccines around.

"But because the demand is softening, what we're actually seeing now is people are able to deploy on the humanitarian sector without considerable impact on the commercial cargo activity," Hughes said.

"Particularly also, as you look at the passenger network that has continued to recover over the past 12 months – the overall cargo capacity is almost back to 2019 levels based on the amount of returning passenger flight networks as well as the increase in the number of freighters that have been set up since 2019."

"So, no, we're not seeing any impact on the commercial cargo activity at the moment. No sizable impact," he added.

In the wake of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, airlines, ocean carriers, and logistics operators have since announced various forms of aid to support continued rebuilding efforts in the affected areas.

TIACA priorities, events in 2023

During the same briefing, TIACA also announced industry priorities for the year centred on digitalization, sustainability, collaboration, safety and security, liberalization, and promoting the value of air cargo.

For 2023, TIACA said it would be holding regional events in Delhi, India (March 27-29) to tackle opportunities for growth; and in Africa (June 19-21) happening in Nairobi, Kenya.

The TIACA Executive Summit this year will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on November 6-8.

For the first time, TIACA — which represents, supports, informs and connects every element of the global air freight supply chain — also announced that its Air Cargo Forum will be back in Miami in 2024 after holding the forum there in 2022.