75th Anniversary: ACW through the decades

1960

• The Society of Automotive Engineers forms the International Air Cargo Forum to represent all cargo carriers and freight forwarders.

1962

• The Port Authority of New York announces plans to double cargo capacity at Idlewild Airport to 590,000 square feet, citing immense demand for air cargo.
• Pan Am makes the first-ever order of cargo jets in the U.S.: two 707-321Cs.

1963

• The U.S. Postmaster General says the Post Office will gradually expand its use of air for the movement of regular letter mail.
• A white paper, filed by Flying Tigers, Riddle Airlines and Slick, alleges that the “big four” U.S.-based carriers – American, Eastern, TWA and United – had conspired to put all-cargo carriers out of business.

1964

• REA Express begins work on what would be a three-year nationwide computerization program to track small-shipments data transmission.

1965

• Airborne Freight Corp. vice president George Ryan calls for higher standards for forwarder certification to “eliminate… fly-by-night operators” that are harming the industry’s reputation.

1966

• In December Aeroports de Paris breaks ground on Paris North, later to be known as Charles de Gaulle Airport.

1967

• Samuel Mosher, board chariman of Flying Tigers since 1945, steps down over disagreements with some new policies at the airline.

1968

• The jumbo-jet era is ushered in with the first flight of the Boeing 747 widebody, the first passenger aircraft with belly cargo capacity to rival the DC-8 freighter.
• California’s Airborne merges with Seattle-based Pacific Air Freight, to form Airborne Freight Corp. – the predecessor to Airborne Express.

1969

• In March, a British-French aviation consortium makes the first test flight of the supersonic Concorde aircraft.
• Adrian Dalsey, Larry Hilblom and Robert Lynn begin an ocean courier service in San Francisco named after their three surname initials, “D.H.L.”