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World Cup Final the red card for LatAm-N America airfreight boom

Freight forwarders in Latin America and their customers are trying to cope with a stark change in airfreight capacity to North America. The football World Cup boosted flights between the hemispheres, but after the final, capacity shifted from the sector. Figures from WorldACD for 1-26 July show airfreight rates from Central and South America to North America rose 7.3% during the period, although volumes contracted 1.5%. Overall chargeable weight from the region's airports climbed 1.5%, fuelled by rising volumes flown within Latin America, to Asia Pacific and Europe, while tonnag to Africa, the Middle East, India, and North America declined. Prices to Asia Pacific sank, but increased in all other sectors for a 9.3% overall rise of outbound rates from the region, over the same period in 2025. In the run-up to the football mega-event, Latin American and US airlines had beefed-up their presence in the market. Colombia-based Avianca, the region's second-largest, added 42 weekly flights to the 400 weekly services to 14 US points it had been running last year. After the World Cup final, schedules shifted: US airlines have taken aircraft out of South America to deploy them on transatlantic routes for the summer season, says Federico Calvo, director of Intermodal Logistics. "American, Delta and United are all pulling passenger capacity from their Latin America schedules and are taking that to the North Atlantic," he said, adding that those cuts affected primarily services to Miami, the top airfreight gateway between the two regions. This was bad news for forwarders seeking US-bound lift from Argentia. Traffic from Buenos Aires' Ezeiza Airport has shown steady growth in Chilean salmon exports, as the Argentine capital is easier to reach from Chile's exporters, who face a slalom of trucking and ferry services to move their fish to Santiago. Over the past couple of years, more and more of them have embraced the route via Buenos Aires, Mr Calvo noted. Over time this has raised northbound pricing from Ezeiza to the level charged from Santiago, he added. Argentina's own US-bound exports have benefited from the tariffs Washington has levied on goods from Brazil, showing increases in volumes of beef as well as pharmaceuticals. The 25% tariff on a range of Brazilian exports, based on allegations of unfair trade practices - threatens between $7bn and $11bn of Brazilian exports to the US, according to estimates from Brazil's government and National Confederation of Industry respectively, accounting for about 18% to 26% of Brazil's exports to the US. Demand for lift will increase when the growing season in Argentina gets under way, Mr Calvo noted. Unlike bellyhold lift, freighter capacity to North America has been relatively unchanged. There is a knock-on effect on the northbound market from other freighter activities serving Buenos Aires, though. Having been granted unlimited freedom to add freighter flights to Argentina in April - including permission to offer domestic cabotage - Emirates started charters to Ezeiza, Santiago, and Quito the following month. While this does not affect US-bound flows from the region, it alleviates capacity pressure from Argentina by offering direct transatlantic capacity, reducing the need for exporters to move traffic to Europe via US gateways. An even bigger impact has been the rise of e-commerce flows from China to Argentina, which spawned direct freighter flights from China to the Argentine capital. As the trip costs are covered by the pricing for inbound traffic, rates out of Argentina, as the freighters head back to China, has been very aggressive, said Mr Calvo. E-commerce is booming in Argentina. In April, online sales were up almost 136% on a year 10th place worldwide, in terms of sales of used articles and direct transactions between users. The rapid growth has sparked Aeropuertos Argentinas to react to e-commerce with plans for a new 12,000 sq metre terminal. It also aims to expand Ezeiza's cold storage capacity from 4,500 sq metres to 7,000 sq m. So far it is unclear when these projects will get under way.

National Airlines operates "world's longest 777 freighter flight

National Airlines has achieved what is believed to be the world's longest commercial Boeing 777 freighter flight. Florida-headquartered National Airlines said in a LinkedIn post on 5 August that the flight operated from Glasgow Prestwick in Scotland to Melbourne, Australia. The airline said: "National Airlines is proud to have achieved what is believed to be the world's longest commercial Boeing 777 Freighter flight with live cargo for another airline, operating nonstop from Prestwick to Melbourne across an extraordinary 9,849 nautical miles (completed in 19:23 hrs)." Last month, National Airlines took delivery of its third Boeing 777-200 freighter within four months and expects to add a fourth 777F in the coming months. These aircraft are part of an order the airline made for four newbuild 777-200Fs in 2024. The newbuild 777Fs will help the airline modernise its fleet, increase cargo capacity and fly long haul routes. National Airlines, part of National Air Cargo, now operates a fleet of three 777-200Fs, nine Boeing 747Fs, plus Airbus A330-300 and A330-200 passenger aircraft. The airline offers global cargo charter options for direct shippers, multinational manufacturers, e-commerce organisations, entertainment groups and government agencies. As well as cargo charter services, National Airlines offers passenger charter services, ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance & Insurance) and CMI (Crew, Maintenance & Insurance) services globally. Besides US regional hubs in Buffalo, New York; Orlando, Florida; and Chicago, Illinois, National has operational hubs located in Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Madrid, Dubai, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Bahrain, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Cargonet appoints regional sales manager

UK airfreight wholesaler Cargonet has appointed Kirsty McAndrew as regional sales manager to work with freight forwarders across Northern England and support the company's continued investment in regional growth. Based in Manchester, McAndrew brings extensive sales experience, including almost a decade within the freight and logistics sector. She previously worked in business development manager roles for Simplycargo Wholesale Limited and British American Shipping Limited. Andy Sullivan, commercial director of Cargonet, commented: "We're delighted to welcome Kirsty to the Cargonet team. She has built an excellent reputation within our industry for her professionalism, enthusiasm and customer-first approach. "Those values align perfectly with our own culture. As we continue to invest in our Manchester operation and strengthen our presence across the North, Kirsty's appointment represents another important step in our growth strategy. "Our customers value knowledgeable, accessible people who genuinely understand their business, and Kirsty brings exactly that." Commenting on her appointment, McAndrew said: "I'm excited to be joining Cargonet at such an exciting stage of the company's journey. "Cargonet has an outstanding reputation for service, and I'm looking forward to building new relationships while helping existing customers grow. The business has ambitious plans, and I'm delighted to be part of the next chapter." With operations in London and Manchester, Cargonet provides "neutral airfreight and courier services" exclusively to freight forwarders.