Changing Weather Patterns, Cargo Updates & Thriving In An Uncertain Future

Welcome back! It's April? It's April. Somehow we're already more than 25% of the way through 2024. There's lots to get done in the next 75%, so let's get to it.

Thriving In An Uncertain Future

Aviation is committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, including the air cargo sector.

At last month’s World Cargo Symposium, Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s Chief Economist and SVP, Sustainability, put this challenge into context.

In 2023, the world produced some 37.4 gigatons of CO2, 59 gigatons including all greenhouse gases. Aviation’s share of this is just 2% while transport’s total contribution is 23%.

Transport’s CO2 output comes mainly from road vehicles, which produces more than 70% of its total, followed by shipping.

“We must do something about our emissions, but we must also keep our perspective,” said Thomsen.

Learn more in Airlines. magazine about the levers available to the industry to achieve net zero by 2050.

News in Brief

? Willie Walsh Seeks to Put Cargo Centre Stage

? Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation: Annual Report

? ICYMI: Fly Net Zero Media Update

? Training Opportunity of the Week: Safety Risk Management (SRM) with Simulation

? Cargo Tracker March 2024

Chart of the Week: Weather-Related Operational Disruptions Are Rising

Weather patterns have been changing, directly impacting airline operations, as evidenced by recent trends in the Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) delays in Europe.

ATFM delays arise when there is a lack of capacity in specific airspace areas. In such cases, aircraft are asked to delay their take off by several minutes, or slightly alter their flight paths.

The shortest average weather-related delay across the airspace covered by Eurocontrol was observed in 2020, when COVID-19 caused extraordinarily low traffic volumes which meant that there was sufficient airspace capacity to absorb any disruptions.

A longer view has seen the average delay rise from 0.13 minutes per flight in 2011 to 0.54 minutes in 2023.

In total, this amounted to 5.4 million minutes – or 90,000 hours of flight delays last year.

This has a cost impact on airlines, travelers, and the environment.

Changing weather patterns highlight the need for greater operational flexibility, in addition to climate change mitigation actions, or flight delays will likely become an even bigger concern.

Learn more about the #WeeklyChart and weather-related operational disruptions.

Welcome Red Sea Airlines!

We are delighted to announce that Red Sea Airlines has joined IATA's airline membership!

Red Sea Airlines, a privately owned airline and one of Egypt’s newest carriers, launched operations in September 2022 and offers primarily non-scheduled passenger services within Egypt and across the region with a fleet of two Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

Current international destinations include: Almaty, Astana, Bishkek, Chisinau, Copenhagen, Dubai, Katowice, Ljubljana, Madrid, Napoli, Paris, Tashkent, Verona and Yerevan.

Thanks for reading! Safe travels and please consider sharing this newsletter.