AIR TRANSPORTATION

Nowadays two factors are especially in demand during transportation – speed and price. Even though the cheapest category of transportation is certainly transportation by sea, without a doubt air transportation is the leader in transportation when speed is important. Aircraft does not suffer from problems with traffic jams, in addition customs are not present in airspace. The main factor of air transportation’s speed is of course the fact that an aircraft flies in a straight line, choosing the shortest route between two points – it does not experience issues with detours or inconvenient arrangement of road networks, and last but not least, with the quality of the road pavement. However air transportation just like any other type of transport, has its own advantages and disadvantages. Let us take a look at both side of air transportation.

Advantages of air transportation

• Air transportation is the quickest type of transport, apart from pipelines which are specialised for gases, liquids, emulsions, etc. The speed of delivery enables the use of aircraft in emergency situations, when every moment is precious, for example during transportation of seriously ill patients or injured people, during natural disasters in rescue and law enforcement operations.

• Air transportation secures total safety of goods. It is important to note that possibility of a modern plane crash operated by a skilled pilot, is lower than possibility of getting hit by a car in a more or less large city.

• Air transportation allow relative flexibility in terms of requirements for transported goods. Relatively strict requirements are applied only to oversized goods. Usually those are fragile or perishable goods or items of urgent necessity. Of course no one is going to transport 200 tons of sand by aircraft, but such a possibility exists.

• Companies offering aircraft transportation will help with registration of all necessary documents for additional fee – goods’ insurance, trouble with loading/unloading, customs control.

  As you see transportation by air is a very attractive type of transportation. But everything is not as simple as it may seem in the beginning. Aircraft transportation has several important disadvantages.

Disadvantages of air transportation

• Aircraft transportation has very high cost. Salaries for pilots and personnel servicing aircraft, air traffic controllers, cost of construction of aircraft and very expensive fuel – these are the reasons for air transportation being the most expensive type in the world. Fast speed – high price, nothing can be done about it.

• Presence of airports is mandatory (freight helicopters do not need a runway, however transportation by helicopter is even more expensive).

• Aircraft transportation can be made more difficult because of possibility of problems with customs during loading/unloading of goods. It is advisable to entrust these concerns to the carrier. It will be costly, but done properly.

  Even though transportation by aircraft has incredible list of advantages, its costs do not allow companies to raise number of customers who would use transportation by aircraft. These services are used by those who can afford to spend large sums for speed of transportation or those who have no other choice. Nonetheless runways will not be abandoned anytime soon, but decrease in costs should happen only after breakthrough in fuel and aircraft construction sectors has been made.