New ways of doing business, driven by the Internet revolution, such as electronic commerce are rapidly developing and creating new revenue streams. However, the commercial success of e-commerce relies heavily on the existence of efficient, liberalized delivery networks of which air cargo services constitute the key link. It is time that the implications of air cargo liberalization for industry at large are fully assessed. Air cargo plays a crucial role in ensuring the competitiveness and commercial success of most industries around the globe. So far, governments and airlines have, to a large extent, focused their interest on passenger and aeropolitical issues, and have failed to consider the broader implications of air cargo liberalization on industry and consumers in general.
Air cargo is an indicator of wider economic trends, often showing the way into and out of recession.
Although time-definite services were the exclusive domain of the integrated carriers in the past, all carriers of freight are now forced by the market to offer this service. Airbus sources indicate that 1184 all-cargo aircraft were in service in 1994, more than triple the 1980 fleet and forecasts suggest that the overall fleet of cargo jets will grow to 1701 by 2005. The current bilateral framework is inadequate Traditional air transport services agreements are outdated and ill suited to the new activities developed by the air transport industry. This is particularly true in the case of cargo services, where significant changes have taken place in the last 20 years. In most parts of the world, aviation has become a very competitive industry, with carriers seeking to enlarge the scale of their operations beyond their national boundaries.