The DFW Difference: How the Texas hub became a gateway to Latin America

Enhancing connectivity

Carriers are happy to fly perishables north, but it’s that high-value southbound cargo that puts “food on the family,” to quote well-known Texan, George W. Bush.

“We have 150 widebodies, but our biggest asset, when it comes to e-commerce, is the fact that we have 6,700 flights a day, and that really isn’t tapped in today’s cargo world,” said AA Cargo’s Elieson. With e-commerce, Elieson sees bellyholds playing a bigger, yet so far untapped role. “For many of our customers, it’s all about widebodies. It’s sometimes an added effort to figure out how we can develop programs that move from a narrow body to a wide body, but we have a lot of available capacity on narrow bodies that goes completely untapped.”

Ultimately, Elieson is trying to make it easier for more small businesses to participate and compete with the bigger retailers, and that involves some creativity.

One way the carrier is advancing this cause is by working with freight forwarders to deliver packages to their final destinations. “Now that we have Dallas and Asia as an option,” explained Sandoval, “we’re exploring those opportunities to keep growing.” She noted that many destinations in South America are best served by AA Cargo. Even forwarders like DHL Forwarding can’t fall back on the level of regional connectivity that AA reaches with its bellyholds. “E-commerce is something we need to be looking at, and the Dallas connection to Asia creates an opportunity that carriers need to explore.”

E-commerce is a global phenomenon, but its implications for South America and the air freight players that serve it are also local. And that’s the DFW advantage. It’s both a local and global airport, at the nexus of the global economy, simultaneously linked to the biggest markets around the world, and to the local freight forwarder hoping to connect his market to the world.

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