The International Air Transport Association (IATA) highlighted its key priorities to strengthen air cargo in a post-pandemic world at the 15th World Cargo Symposium at ExCeL London.
IATA priorities include achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, continuing to modernize processes, finding better solutions to safely carry lithium ion batteries and making air cargo attractive to new talent.
“Air cargo had a stellar year in 2021 achieving US$204 billion in revenues. At present, however, social and economic challenges are mounting,” said Brendan Sullivan, IATA’s Global Head of Cargo.
“The war in Ukraine has disrupted supply chains, jet fuel prices are high and economic volatility has slowed GDP growth. Despite this, there are positive developments. Ecommerce continues to grow, Covid restrictions are easing, and high-value specialized cargo products are proving resistant to economic ups-and-downs. Going forward, achieving our net zero commitment, modernizing processes, finding better solutions to safely carry lithium batteries, and making air cargo attractive to new talent are critical.”
Sullivan told attendees that the air cargo industry is in a better place than it was in 2019, before the Covid-19 crisis.
“It’s financially stronger, more efficient with advances in digitalization, and better appreciated for the heroic efforts that you all made to keep air cargo moving through a very difficult crisis. The challenges and opportunities that we now face are those we’re used to dealing with.”
Sullivan urged members to help the industry achieve its net zero emissions goal. “We must turn our commitment into actions to reduce carbon emissions,” he said.
While sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) remains at the forefront of the net zero plan, Sullivan noted that one plan calls for the use of SAF to make up 65% of the carbon emissions reduction, with the remaining changes coming from new technologies, including hydrogen and electric propulsion (13%), more efficient operations (3%) and offsets and eventual carbon capture (19%), while technology develops.
“SAF is the key to achieving net zero emissions. Airlines used every drop that was available in 2021. And it will be the same this year. The challenge is SAF production capacity. The solution is government incentives. With the right incentives, we could see 30 billion liters of SAF by 2030. That would be a tipping point by 2030 towards our net zero ambition of ample SAF quantities at affordable prices,” said Sullivan.
Sullivan highlighted four specific efforts the industry has undertaken to improve the supply of SAF: BP and Neste have committed to supplying DHL Express with more than 800 million liters of SAF until 2026; Lufthansa Cargo is buying 1.8 million metric tonnes of SAF from Shell; Air France-KLM Cargo will use SAF to bring fresh agricultural and horticultural products from Nairobi to Amsterdam; and FedEx and DHL Express will each power 30% of their operations with SAF by 2030.
At an event later in the conference, IATA announced that it would be trialing a CO2 emissions calculation tool specifically developed for cargo flights together with Etihad Airways.
“To effectively manage and report on sustainability progress, the entire value chain – shippers, forwarders, investors and regulators – along with consumers are asking for reliable and trustworthy data calculations. This trial will provide a valuable proof of concept for the cargo component of the IATA CO2 Connect carbon calculator,” the organization said in a press release.
IATA has been successfully providing IATA CO2 Connect for passenger flights since June this year, with actual fuel burn data of 57 aircraft types representing about 98% of the active global passenger fleet. By using airline specific data on fuel burn and load factors, it is the most accurate in the market, the statement said.
“Calculating the carbon impact of cargo shipments has more challenging parameters, not least of which is the unpredictability of routing at time of booking an air cargo shipment that can often include non-air segments. In addition, cargo can be carried on both dedicated freighter aircraft and in the bellies of passenger aircraft. To achieve equal levels of accuracy to the passenger calculator, it is essential to collect actual data on fuel burn, load factors and other key variables in trials,” the organization said.
Sullivan also spoke about the importance of bringing a new generation of cargo-focussed staff members into the industry. “People are the core of any improvement in what air cargo can deliver. We saw thousands of jobs leave the industry during Covid-19, especially cargo handlers. We are now competing for talent in a very tight job market. And when we do find the right and willing talent, training and longer-than-usual security clearance processes delay their entry into the workforce.”
Sullivan called on governments to accelerate clearance processes, including those for security, as a short-term solution. “Longer term, though, we need to do a better job of attracting, onboarding and retaining talent. We’re working with two of our industry partners, FIATA and TIACA, on how we will tackle this together, as an industry,” he said.
Sullivan also encouraged more cargo carriers to sign on to the industry-wide 25by2025 initiative, which aims to increase female participation across the industry, particularly in leadership roles.
“We will not have the people we need to drive the industry forward if we don’t take full advantage of half the world’s population. Achieving an equal gender balance must be core to any long-term talent strategy,” said Sullivan.
“The last few years of Covid have been brutal. For those who worked through the crisis, it was extremely challenging. This is particularly true for crew, who had to deal with extraordinary measures while operating across borders.”
By Gregory Glass
Asia Cargo News | London
