As the global economy becomes more interconnected, aviation takes on an increasingly central role in our collective economic growth. The aviation industry supports 65 million jobs and enables the best part of $3 trillion in global GDP annually. If aviation were a country, it would rank among the world’s largest economies.

With the loss of nearly two years of passenger traffic, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit aviation harder than nearly any other industry. Yet there are reasons for optimism as the industry looks to emerge from the crisis stronger than before. In these articles, Reed Smith’s aviation team examines how the industry can reconfigure itself and continue to connect the people and economies of the world, long into the future, with a much different footprint.

This report gives us the opportunity to make a small contribution towards the thinking about the future of air freight and freighter aircraft. We invite you to reach out to any of our authors to discuss the issues we address and what they mean for your organization.