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39 Glossary Air cargo Freight and mail carried by passenger airlines, integrated express carriers, and all-cargo carriers. Air cargo apron/ramp area Portions of the airport tarmac designated for air cargo aircraft parking and operations. Air forwarder Firm specializing in arranging storage and shipping of merchandise and mate- rials on behalf of its shippers. It usually provides a full range of services, including tracking inland transportation, preparation of shipping and export documents, warehousing, booking cargo space, negotiating freight charges, freight consolidation, cargo insurance, and filing of insurance claims. Air freight That portion of air cargo that does not include mail. Air freight ranges in size from par- cels weighing several ounces to large shipments weighing thousands of pounds. Airmail That portion of air cargo that does not include freight; typically composed of letters, parcels, and packages. All-cargo carriers All-cargo carriers operate airport-to-airport air cargo and freight services for their customers but do not offer passenger service. Cargo airports Cargo airports are dedicated to the movement of air cargo and offer the advantage of uncongested airspace relative to airports with passenger airline service. Cargo buildings Warehouses, buildings, and retrofitted hangars dedicated to facilitating the trans- port of air cargo at airports. Cargo terminal A cargo terminal is a facility designed to move cargo containers between differ- ent transport vehicles for onward transportation. At an airport, the cargo terminal is used to move cargo between aircraft and trucks. Only a few examples of pure cargo terminals exist in the world, including SuperTerminal 1 at Hong Kong International Airport and Emiratesâ Cargo Mega Terminal at Dubai International. Consolidation center/drop station A consolidation center, or drop station, is intended to reduce truck congestion at large international gateway airports by consolidating the loads of multiple trucks at a point well outside the airport prior to transporting to the destination airport. Converted hangar/warehouse A converted hangar/warehouse is a stand-alone building originally designed as an aircraft hangar, converted to be used as a warehouse for the storage and transfer of air cargo. DHLâs converted warehouse at San Francisco International Airport is a prime example of this type of facility. Brussels Airport is also home to a converted Sabena hangar that was used for air cargo sorting by DHL. Cross-dock less-than-truckload (LTL) warehouse A cross-dock LTL warehouse is a facility where materials from trucks or rail cars are unloaded and directly loaded onto outbound trucks or rail cars, with little or no storage in between. Dedicated truck parking Parking for trucks/trailers on the landside of cargo buildings. Includes spaces in the buildingâs truck-bay doors/docks and parking lot truck/trailer spaces. First-line air cargo facilities First-line air cargo facilities have direct airside access and are typi- cally used by airlines as well as ground handlers that require direct access to the aircraft and usu- ally park adjacent to the cargo building.
40 Freight ton-mile (FTM) One ton of cargo carried one mile. Freighter Aircraft capable of carrying only cargo. Ground handler Businesses that provide aircraft handling services to air cargo and passenger airlines. These businesses assist with the loading and unloading of aircraft, cargo transport, and material handling. Ground support equipment (GSE) Tugs, K loaders, push-back tractors, trucks, belt loaders, dol- lies, ULDs, and other vehicles and equipment used to service air cargo aircraft. Integrated express cargo carriers Cargo carriers offering door-to-door service typically under one brand. For example, FedEx Express, UPS, and DHL. Intercontinental hubs An intercontinental hub connects two or three continents by air cargo and passenger aircraft and can be in relatively remote parts of the world, away from dense populations. These airports offer cargo hub capability as well as aircraft service centers for aircraft needing to refuel and change crews. International gateways The international gateway functions as a consolidation, distribution, and processing point for international air cargo. To a certain extent, an international air cargo gateway is like a hub airport in that the gateway airport is not reliant on the surrounding market area to generate sufficient cargo to justify air cargo-related operations. Load factor Revenue ton-miles divided by available ton-miles. National cargo hub The cargo hub is the backbone of an integrated express carrier since it provides connections to each market in the integratorâs system. Each day of operation, flights from around the world arrive at the hub. Once at the hub, packages are unloaded, sorted for the appropriate destination market, and loaded onto the appropriate outbound aircraft. Non-integrated all-cargo carriers Cargo carriers offering airport-to-airport cargo service, such as Atlas, Cargolux, and Evergreen. These carriers rely heavily on air forwarders to transport cargo to and from the aircraft. Origin and destination (OD)/local market stations Local market stations, or direct air cargo services (OD service to an airportâs surrounding market area), are generally near population cen- ters where there is a concentration of industry, commerce, and transportation infrastructure. These airports represent the spoke in a hub-and-spoke air carrier network. Passenger airlines Passenger airlines generally provide airport-to-airport service, with freight and mail carried as belly cargo. Air cargo services provided by passenger airlines vary in scope and size from airline to airline, based on the type of aircraft operating within their fleets. Passenger belly cargo Cargo loaded into the belly (and tail) compartments of passenger aircraft. Regional hubs Regional hubs serve the region in which they are located by performing the cargo sorting and distribution functions of a specific carrierâs primary hub. Road feeder service (RFS) Cargo that is transported by surface, usually by a dedicated truck, on an airway bill. Carriage between origin and destination may be exclusively by surface or also may feed into airport-to-airport or surface transportation. SCAG Southern California Association of Governments, which functions as the metropolitan planning organization for the greater Los Angeles region.
41 Second-line air cargo facilities Second-line air cargo facilities may be on the airport premises but do not offer direct airside access. They work well for tenants who do not have aircraft or can access the aircraft through other through-the-fence access points. Sorting facility Sorting facilities are designed to consolidate and process air cargo, routing it through the appropriate channel for further transport or local delivery. Automated sorting is used by integrators at their hub terminals to achieve their desired turnaround times and delivery com- mitments. These facilities do not necessarily need to be located on the airport premises. Third-line air cargo facilities Third-line air cargo facilities are in areas surrounding airports and may be owned by private landlords but are not directly connected with the airport. Although not on-airport property, these facilities offer aviation service providers the proximity to the airport they desire. Through-the-fence gate airside access Security gates near cargo buildings that allow vehicles access from landside to the air cargo ramp/apron. Trip generation Trip generation is the first step in the conventional four-step transportation fore- casting process and predicts the number of trips originating in or destined for a particular traffic analysis zone. Unit load device (ULD) A unit load device is a pallet or container used to load luggage, freight, and mail onto widebody aircraft and specific narrow-body aircraft. Warehouse Warehouses are buildings with many different functional definitions, depending on the operatorâs role. Activities that take place in a warehouse relating to air cargo include unloading/ breakdown, buildup/loading, import/export document processing, security screening, tracking/ tracing, inventory/control, perishables refrigeration, product inventory, delivery and receipt of goods, scanning and processing, and administration.
