Airlines turn to cargo to compensate for loss of passengers

As travellers stay home because of the coronavirus pandemic and revenue tumbles, American and other US carriers are pivoting to freight.

Demand for goods has decreased more slowly than travel demand, and some items, such as personal protective equipment, are newly critical.

In normal times passenger planes move about 55 per cent of the world’s cargo, but with so few planes flying, space is precious, and rates are rocketing.
Air Canada, Lufthansa and Icelandair all have reconfigured a few planes to carry cargo in the main cabin, and on Thursday the Federal Aviation Administration cleared Delta Air Lines as the first US carrier to transport goods in the cabin. With airlines taking government funds, issuing fresh shares and drawing down billions in loans, every dollar helps.

As passenger revenue falls, analysts polled by FactSet expect that percentage to rise to 2.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 and 3 per cent in the second. Last week American flew 46 cargo-only routes; it plans to “almost double” that number by May 7.

Read more via The Financial Times