Freighter industry’s global challenges on agenda in Nashville 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The 32nd annual Cargo Facts Symposium begins on Oct. 21, bringing together industry leaders from around the world to discuss the challenges and key developments across the airfreight ecosystem. 

The conference, which takes place at the Grand Hyatt through Oct. 23, includes executives from airlines, airframers, lessors and MROs to discuss the state of the industry and what players can look forward to in the coming months.  

High jet fuel prices and continued supply chain issues as well as the war in Iran and associated knock-on effects are weighing on the industry, leading to a projected air cargo traffic growth of just 1.5% year-over-year in 2026, according to Cargo Facts Consulting data.  

“I was starting to see what I thought was a glimpse of an upturn in the market and then all of a sudden, we go into a war with Iran and it starts to batter the jet fuel prices,” Gary Warner, president of Precision Aircraft Solutions and 321 Precision Conversions, told Cargo Facts. 

Warner joins Cargo Facts Symposium for the panel discussion “Type Talk A321s — The state of Airbus narrowbody freighters” on Oct. 23, at 10:45 a.m. (GMT -5).  

While freighter capacity flying in and out of the Middle East has mostly recovered from the initial shock of the Iran war over the past five months, the instability in the region and ensuing disruption in cargo flows as well as increase in costs for operators will leave a lasting mark on the industry in the mid-term, experts say.  

The conflict has pushed up jet fuel prices, which Mylene Scholnick, senior adviser at World Star Aviation, said has had “drastic consequence on operators.” 

“The impact on fuel is massive and it has put some operators in financial difficulties,” she said. “And some of them, especially in the cargo world, are more fragile” than passenger airlines. 

Scholnick will join the panel discussion “Type talk 737: Aging Classics and NGs, and ever-changing global fleet dynamics” on Oct. 23, at 11:45 a.m. (GMT -5).  

This year also has been slow for production freighter deliveries and conversion redeliveries.  

In the first eight months 2026, just 52 aircraft have entered service. Of those, 27 are new, 16 are widebody redeliveries and nine — the lowest number in at least 15 years — are narrowbody conversions and redeliveries, according to data compiled by Cargo Facts Consulting.  

The scarcity of aircraft engines across the industry is also concerning as the price of these has shot upward in recent years.  

During the pandemic, adds Vern Titcomb, senior vice president, capital markets at Crestone Air Partners, “everything was cheap.” 

“All these dynamics have kind of come to a head where now you’ve got full-life engines that are trading at $13 million, whereas pre-COVID, that was probably about $7 million,” he told Cargo Facts. 

Titcomb will join the panel discussion “Type talk 737 – Aging Classics and NGs, and ever-changing global fleet dynamics” on Oct. 23, at 11:45 a.m. (GMT -5).  

Cargo Facts Symposium will also feature Fireside chats with Martin Drew, chief strategy and transformation officer at Atlas Air Worldwide, and Greg Mays, president and chief executive at ATSG, as well as presentations covering topics that include: 

• 777 freighter efficiency and the future of widebody freighters; 
• Sourcing and procurement challenges facing freighters and engines; 
• Freighter values and lease-rate trends; and 
• Trends in macroeconomics, global trade and e-commerce. 

Executives speaking at the event include: 

• Peter Penseel, president of Delta Cargo; 
• Jim Neff, CEO and founder of Western Global Airlines;  
• Jordi Boto, CEO of EFW; 
• Alex Harrington, chief commercial officer of Titan Airways; and 
• Yaacov Berkovitz, executive vice president and general manager aviation at IAI Aviation Group.

Stay up to date with the latest news coming from Cargo Facts Symposium.