MOST surveyed in the air freight market feel pressure from governments and eco campaigners to end the use of fossil fuels will not much affect the sector for now, reports London's Air Cargo News.
'As long as I can remember, people used to talk about the supply of oil running out - and then they keep finding new wells,' said Chapman Freeman Airchartering commercial officer Neil Dursley.
'And it will continue to be important until there is a viable alternative. The world economy will continue to require fossil fuels for many years to come.'
Mr Dursley also sees opportunities in energy produced from other sources. 'There is always a requirement for airlift - wind turbines, for instance, or in relation to nuclear power plants being constructed.
Justin Lancaster, group commercial director, Air Charter Service (ACS), believes the oil and gas market 'is not going anywhere in the immediate future. 'We heard about 'peak oil' years ago, but cargo still has to get from A to B now, even if there is no doubt that in the long-term oil and gas will be less.'
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has not only affected the price of oil and gas, it has severely impacted heavylift freighter aircraft capacity as sanctions against Russia have taken the Volga-Dnepr fleet of 11 Antonovs and AirBridgeCargo's 18 Boeing 747-8s out of the market.
The large Antonov AN-225 Mriya was destroyed 'and there will be no substitute with comparable capabilities for this aircraft in the near future,' said Pavel Kuznetsov, head of air chartering.
Russian carriers used to have a fair share of the international air freight market, but the niche of heavy and oversized air freight has been impacted the most.
'With these developments, finding a suitable solution for heavy lift air freight has certainly become more challenging.
Mr Dursley agrees that there is a challenge is terms of availability of aircraft. 'Only five of the AN-124s are still operating and most are working on behalf of humanitarian programmes.
'In fact, the majority of the Antonov fleet in past 18 months has been dedicated to movement of PPE and Covid test kits.'
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'As long as I can remember, people used to talk about the supply of oil running out - and then they keep finding new wells,' said Chapman Freeman Airchartering commercial officer Neil Dursley.
'And it will continue to be important until there is a viable alternative. The world economy will continue to require fossil fuels for many years to come.'
Mr Dursley also sees opportunities in energy produced from other sources. 'There is always a requirement for airlift - wind turbines, for instance, or in relation to nuclear power plants being constructed.
Justin Lancaster, group commercial director, Air Charter Service (ACS), believes the oil and gas market 'is not going anywhere in the immediate future. 'We heard about 'peak oil' years ago, but cargo still has to get from A to B now, even if there is no doubt that in the long-term oil and gas will be less.'
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has not only affected the price of oil and gas, it has severely impacted heavylift freighter aircraft capacity as sanctions against Russia have taken the Volga-Dnepr fleet of 11 Antonovs and AirBridgeCargo's 18 Boeing 747-8s out of the market.
The large Antonov AN-225 Mriya was destroyed 'and there will be no substitute with comparable capabilities for this aircraft in the near future,' said Pavel Kuznetsov, head of air chartering.
Russian carriers used to have a fair share of the international air freight market, but the niche of heavy and oversized air freight has been impacted the most.
'With these developments, finding a suitable solution for heavy lift air freight has certainly become more challenging.
Mr Dursley agrees that there is a challenge is terms of availability of aircraft. 'Only five of the AN-124s are still operating and most are working on behalf of humanitarian programmes.
'In fact, the majority of the Antonov fleet in past 18 months has been dedicated to movement of PPE and Covid test kits.'
SeaNews Turkey
