2005 Study: The Seven Biggest Problems of Airline Internal ULD Management

Denver, USA/Raunheim, Germany (November 3rd, 2005) – For years, the aviation sector has been characterized by a steady rise in the scope of outsourcing, above all in the areas of IT and ground handling. More and more airlines are also starting to outsource ULD management (Unit Load Device) for the efficient bundling of large amounts of cargo (baggage, freight, and mail) in aircrafts. And according to the first study on worldwide ULD management, there are good reasons to do so. As part of the study, Jettainer surveyed 60 international air freight and ground handling experts. Some 89 percent of the respondents (multiple responses were allowed) consider “little purchasing power as an individual airline” to be the biggest problem of internal ULD management. A total of 82 percent feel that “the cost structure of the ULD is difficult to measure.”

The study cited a total of 19 hurdles for internal ULD management. The two biggest problems, little purchasing power and cost structure, are followed by “lack of planning/demand forecasting” in third place according to 71 percent of the respondents. In addition, close to two thirds of the experts (61 percent) identified the following three points as important to very important obstacles:

Another point followed close behind: Some 59 percent of the respondents said it is problematic to very problematic that “the supply chain is not optimized and responsibility is not clear within the organization.”