We’ve reported a few times lately on how several airlines are putting passenger planes to work carrying vital freight and making a bit of money during hard times as well. The shortage of air cargo capacity is great that the US Postal Service is shipping mail by sea again, with delivery times to Europe and Asia possibly stretching to weeks instead of days.
The demand is growing not only are for shipments of vital medical supplies and food, but in some parts of the world factory production is picking up again.
So, how do the airlines do it? Obviously there’s cargo space in the hold, including space where your luggage used to fly, but that leaves a lot of empty space where you used to sit. So far, the airlines have been using two methods.
Some are simply webbing packages into passenger seats, hoping not to rip the upholstery or bang into the expensive seatback screens.
But those with a little more time (and a little more worry about the furniture have gone to the effort of pulling out all the seats and storing them so they can pile boxes up and web them with netting tied to the floor. The top picture is one of three Air Canada 777-300ERs that have gotten the treatment.
Airbus has now gone that one better: It is supplying a webbing system that allows piling the cartons on pallets which then connect to the seat tracks, much the way the seats did. It’s available for A330 and A350 models.
You’ll have noticed by now a lot of references to piling up boxes. And that’s the rub. In the cargo compartment, whole containers can be stored quickly. Upstairs, there’s a single major problem: Everything has to be carried through those doors that you usually use–and you know how narrow that can be.
In fact, when American retired its last 767s recently, selling them to an air freight company, the first step in their conversion to freighters is cutting two large new doors.
