Don’t Fence Me In: Could a second-tier U.S. airport be the answer?
The United States’ major urban air hubs are infamous for congestion issues due to capacity constraints, which were further aggravated last year during the most notable spike in demand for airfreight in recent history. Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and New York’s JFK are some of the most notorious examples.
With major international carries like FedEx, LATAM, and Atlas Air bulking up their fleets to address demand, there is now a concern about the additional pressure put on U.S. airports to accommodate a resultant push to increase frequencies out of major hubs.
“Memphis can handle the current workload from FedEx, and Louisville is doing well with UPS, but many of the larger gateways are less well positioned to absorb more traffic,” Seth Lehman, senior director and lead analyst for U.S. airports at New York-based statistics firm Fitch Ratings told Logistics Management.
LAX, one of the major hubs for trans-Pacific cargo saw a 9.4 percent increase in cargo traffic last year compared to 2016 and has multiple projects underway within its Imperial Cargo Complex initiative. The Airside Element of the plan consists of multiple projects that aim to improve the movement of aircraft between the north and south airfields and reconfiguring traffic movement, as well as some plans to improve runways. However, as far as increasing capacity? There are no known moves of significance underway.
It’s a similar story at JFK and Chicago O’Hare, which saw cargo traffic grow 5.9 and 12.6 percent in 2017, respectively. Both are limited in increasing capacity for cargo infrastructure due to their urban locations. There some are initiatives in place that could lead to optimized operations, and therefore accommodate increased traffic, but there is a shortage of physical space to keep building out.
The situation could result in an Amsterdam Schiphol effect, meaning carriers could turn to other airports in order to more easily secure slots. Airports like Seattle (SEA), a good option for trans-Pacific routes, and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG), an increasingly prominent option closer to the eastern seaboard, are both investing in their cargo infrastructures.
Tom Green, senior manager for air cargo development at SEA told Air Cargo World it plans to increase its cargo handling capacity at the airport to about 750,000 tonnes. An International Arrivals Facility is currently under construction and scheduled to open during the fourth quarter of 2019, which will allow the airport to attract new carriers, such as Cathay Pacific, which is adding four-times-weekly service nonstop between SEA and Hong Kong (HKG) in April 2019.
CVG has also made infrastructural changes, since DHL Express and Amazon Air have called the airport home, resulting in the commencement of various expansion projects that enhance the airport’s cargo capacity.
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