Patent ID: 11932374
Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B  Y | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A method of transporting freight, comprising:
transferring an ISO-geometry container or a container insert between a feeder route payload compartment of a feeder route aircraft and a trunk route payload compartment of a trunk route aircraft, the container insert configured to be received within the ISO-geometry container;
the feeder route aircraft having a feeder route fuselage having the feeder route payload compartment configured to receive one of the following:
a single 20-foot-long ISO-geometry container or two 10-foot-long ISO-geometry containers arranged end-to-end;
a single 20-foot-long container insert or two 10-foot-long container inserts arranged end-to-end and configured to be received within an 20-foot-long ISO-geometry container; and

the trunk route aircraft having a pressurized trunk route fuselage the having fuselage interior structure having two side-by-side trunk route payload compartments, each configured to receive one of the following:
a plurality of ISO-geometry containers arranged end-to-end;
a plurality of container inserts arranged end-to-end; and
a combination of one or more ISO-geometry containers and one or more container inserts arranged end-to-end;

wherein:
each ISO-geometry container has a rectangular cross-sectional shape having four corners, an external width of 8 feet, and an external height of either 8 feet 6 inches or 9 feet 6 inches; and
the feeder route aircraft and the trunk route aircraft each have:
at least one wing for supporting the aircraft during flight; and
at least one propulsor for forward propulsion of the aircraft.