Air Transportation

Air Transportation

Air Transportation is an increasingly more important mode of transporting freight both domestically and internationally. The following essay will give a brief history of air transportation, a discussion of the difference between domestic and international regulations for liability, and the time limits to file a claim and the time limit initiate litigation both domestically and internationally.

The first practical demonstration of air freight occurred in November of 1910 when a department store shipped a bolt of silk by air from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio. With the advent of air freight, and the speed at which it delivers freight, businesses were able to keep lower amounts of inventory on hand. The 1920s is the time period when air freight started to be used frequently and grew rapidly. In 1927, only 45,859 pounds were shipped. In 1929, 257,443 pounds were shipped and by 1931 more than one million pounds of freight per year. On December 23, 1940, United Airlines, as agreed to by many historians, became the first all-cargo air service in U.S. History. Competition was fierce and many companies did not survive and the air freight industry did not grow as expected. Through the 1960s and 1970s companies consolidated and most cargo was carried with passenger flights. In the 1980s Fred Smith, who founded FedEx, thought air cargo should be conducted exclusive of air passenger. He pioneered next day delivery with a guarantee. FedEx and UPS emerged as the top air freight carriers by the end of the 1980s and early 1990s. Today the air freight industry is a mix of dedicated large companies, small-time operators, and passenger airlines that operate cargo divisions (Saddiqi, unk., web page).

For domestic air freight carriers, the laws that govern aviation transport. The Air Commerce Act of May 20, 1926 is the cornerstone of the Federal Government's regulation of civil aviation. In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Act transferred the federal civil aviation responsibilities from the Commerce Department to the Civil Aeronautics Authority. This legislation gave the government the power to regulate airline fares and to determine the routes that air carriers would serve. In 1940 the Civil Aeronautics authority was split into two agencies, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). For commercial air freight, the CAB was the more important of the two with the power to regulate economic conditions. The CAB was entrusted with safety regulation, accident investigation, and, most importantly for air freight, economic regulation of the airlines. The CAB functioned independently of the Commerce Department's Secretary (Preston, unk., web page). The CAB was responsible for domestic air carriage regulation from its inception until the passage of the Aviation Act of 1978. The Aviation Act of 1978 deregulated domestic air transportation. Domestic air carriers assume liability under common law and contractual obligations (Barrett, 2003, p. 93-94).

For international air freight carriers, liability is usually governed by