In the early days of aviation, people were always trying to find useful ways to use planes. People were amazed by the machines that let people fly, but everyone was worried about what to do with them. Planes could not, of course, only be used for entertainment, because that would be a waste of the technology's huge potential on a pretty shallow industry. In November 1910, a bolt of silk flew from Dayton, Ohio, to Columbus, Ohio. This was the start of the air freight business.
The air freight business as we know it today began with that fateful trip. After that happened, the air freight business just kept getting better and better. American Railway Express was one of the first companies to ship goods by air. The name of the company makes a reference to the fact that cargo was usually moved by train before the air freight industry started up.
The air freight business made a lot of things easier. First of all, there was the question of speed. Air freight made deliveries between businesses happen faster. This means that the air freight industry helped businesses get the goods they needed when they needed them. This saved a lot of money on storage costs as well. Before the air freight industry came along, businesses had to keep as much stock as they could. So, they could get orders done on time. Since air freight was made possible, businesses could just fly in any goods.
During the 1920s, it became more common to ship goods by air. The National Air Transport Company was founded on November 14, 1926. On September 1, 1927, this company sent the first package by air to the United States. A lot more businesses were started to help the air freight industry grow. Since the industry was still pretty new, these businesses did not make much money.
The air freight industry got off to a slow start because passenger airlines gave them a lot of competition. Many established passenger airlines didn't want an all-cargo air freight industry to start up because they thought it would make the air industry less stable.
People also didn't see as much growth in the air freight industry as they had hoped because most businesses couldn't handle the huge losses that come with starting an air freight business. Some people tried to fix this problem by combining air freight and air passenger transportation, but all they did was slow down the industry.
When a man named Fred Smith realised that combining air freight with passenger freight was a very inefficient way to do things, it changed the way the air freight industry worked. He thought that passenger flights and freight flights should have different routes. He was able to get money mostly because he proposed a service that would guarantee delivery the next day. So, in April 1973, the Federal Express started doing business. The first few years of a business are always hard. But after three years of flying cargo, the business started to make money.
By the 1980s, almost everyone had heard of Federal Express. This just shows how far you can go with a really good idea. The air freight business is booming right now, and companies make millions of dollars from it. That's a big change from how air freight companies used to lose money.
