Revolutions are usually unplanned and always unfold in unexpected ways. Blackberry never saw the iPhone coming and didn’t believe it even when they held it in their hands. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer tried to laugh off the iPad. However, who would believe Apple’s micro marvels would also change the airline business?
Taiwan’s Eva airlines is cutting cargo flights and getting rid of six planes, and the iPad is blame.
“Apple not only changed consumption patterns, but also changed air cargo transportation,” said Eva president Austin Cheng. “Electronic products are becoming smaller, while we charge by weight. The whole pattern for cargo transportation has changed.”
That said, Eva plans to reduce its cargo airliner fleet from 15 to nine.
Cathay Pacific Airlines COO Ivan Chu echoes the sentiment if not plans to pullback, noting that cargo revenue is off 25 percent from just three years ago — i.e. the year the original iPad shipped.
“The cargo volume for the peak season is there, but the rate is still low as competition is quite fierce,” said Chu. “I think this will be a trend for everybody because it’s very difficult to find enough cargo to fill a freighter.”
iPad Transforms
For airlines running dedicated cargo flights, the mobile revolution represents a double whammy — consumers want fewer big, heavy desktop and portable computers and a lot more smaller, lighter devices, like the iPad and iPhone.
A potential upside? All of those life-changing iPads and iPhones need fewer planes to get to market resulting in fewer harmful carbon emissions. Better computers and saving the planet…
Who would’ve thunk it?