The Development of Air Cargo in the South Pacific

Comparatively little is known about air cargo in the South Pacific - about its development, the current situation, or its future prospects. Economic trends as well as industry growth factors are usually exemplified by traffic across the Atlantic, and more recently, the North Pacific. Unfortunately these statistics have only minor bearing on the actual situation in the South Pacific where substantial increases in the past two years have run somewhat contrary to average world figures in a way few of us expected from an area commonly regarded as remote from the rest of the world.

This paper is therefore designed to give a comprehensive overview of air cargo activities in the South Pacific. It follows the local evolution of air cargo from the days of single emergency shipments to the present sophisticated air cargo distribution concept.