18 AIRPORT VOICE, AUGUST 2020
Cargo handling for
the past three
months has helped
keep airports busy
Cargo flights have been
the lifeline of both the airport
and consumers since April.
As passenger travel has hovered
at a terrible low level,
cargo business was strong.
Strong, but not at the same
levels as last year at this time.
The cargo freighters handled
by WFS, dnata, Lufthansa,
AGI, MSN, and Asack
and international carriers
have brought much needed
medical and Covid related
supplies into our JFK and
EWR airports. On any days
in April, May and June, there
were up to a dozen 747’s coming
in and out of the airports.
To add to this, typical passenger
airlines began to use
their aircraft to exclusively
carry similar supplies and
added to the welcomed commerce.
Both freighter and
passenger aircraft carried
masks, ventilators, gowns,
face shields and related supplies
as well as
regular tons of food, and
transporting animals. The
assortment of goods coming
into our airports was only
slightly interrupted early on
by the shutdown of factories
in China. But most factories
are up and running with current
cargo shipments carrying
a lot of ecommerce (epak)
parcels, mail and goods supplied
to truckers for delivery
to all points of the country. It
should be noted that thanks
are given to the hard workers
of the cargo world and
their dedication to keeping
the lifeline of goods to grateful
Americans.
Antonov workers protecting themselves against Covid offload the 747 freighter.
JetBlue ground operations moving 2500 CPAP units for NYS emergency services.
Tons of Salmon from the Faroe Islands arrived regularly at JFK Airport.
10's of millions of masks passed through JFK and Newark airports.
Pet crates with dogs and cats arrived at JFK which has imposed strict himane handling of these
animals from overseas. Photopage by Jeff Yapalater