Heard at the 2016 Cargo Facts Symposium [VIDEO]

Our 21st annual CARGO FACTS Aircraft Symposium, held earlier this week at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami, was one of the most successful ever. Attendance was well up, giving us the best crowd in recent years, the forum sessions were extremely well received (and well attended, too), and there was a non-stop hum of business being conducted in the hallways.

Being that it’s Friday,  we would like to share a few videos highlighting some of the things we heard at this year’s Cargo Facts Symposium.

First, news broke that Boeing formally terminated its 747-400BCF conversion program. During a session devoted to the freighter conversion market at the Cargo Facts symposium this week, Kurt Kraft, Boeing’s Vice President Modification & Conversion Services, announced that the company had taken the decision to formally terminate its 747-400 passenger-to-freighter conversion program. Demand for large widebody freighter conversions has been non-existent since Boeing redelivered a freighter-converted 747-400BCFto now-defunct Evergreen International Airlines four years ago, so the move comes as no surprise.

Kurt delivered a few laughs before announcing the 747-400BCF was finally over.

Next, during a panel dedicated to the impact of e-commerce on the airfreight industry, Stan Wraight, President of Strategic Aviation Solutions International (SASI) delivered a wake-up call to cargo carriers and freight forwarders hoping to remain relevant as commerce increasingly shifts to online platforms.

What did you “hear” at the 2016 Cargo Facts Symposium? Please share your responses: