Page 28 - Planning and Design of Airports

The Natur e of Civil Aviation and Airports 9

100,000 Mail
Revenue Ton-Miles (millions) 70,000
90,000
80,000
Freight
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Year
FIGURE 1-3 Worldwide air cargo.

industry focused on the air transport of mail, bulk freight, high-value
goods, and all other revenue generating payload other than passen-
gers and their luggage. As illustrated in Fig. 1-3, the transport of air
cargo has increased tremendously since the mid-twentieth century,
with its greatest rate of growth occurring since the late 1980s.
The top 50 carriers of air cargo in the global air cargo industry
carried nearly one-hundred billion freight-ton-miles of cargo in 2008.
Approximately 15 percent of the air cargo transported globally is per-
formed by industry leaders and exclusive cargo carriers FedEx and
UPS. The majority of air cargo is transported by air carriers, using
aircraft designed exclusively for air cargo carriage, as well as on com-
mercial passenger aircraft. Cargo carried on commercial passenger
aircraft is often referred to as “belly cargo” as the cargo is stowed in
the belly of the passenger aircraft. Cargo carried on aircraft designed
exclusively for the carriage of cargo is often referred to as “palette” or
“containerized” cargo, describing the containers within which cargo
is stowed and the palettes used to load and unload cargo. Cargo
operations using each type aircraft pose unique challenges for airport
planning and design.
The geographic distribution of world air transport is also of
interest. For statistical purposes ICAO has divided the world into six
regions: Asia and Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin American,
Caribbean, and the Middle East.
While slightly more than 60 percent of all traffic is generated in
North America and Europe, the relative growth rates of traffic in
the Asian and Pacific region, as well as in the Middle East, is
expected to dominate worldwide air transportation growth, reflecting
the growth of importance of this area in the political, social, and
economic sectors.