The risk of recession is one of the biggest concerns facing the air cargo sector in the short term as consumer activity is what drives demand, says Glyn Hughes, director general of The International Air Cargo Association (Tiaca). “There are also challenges associated with the workforce, with recruitment and retention challenges in almost every industry sector. We need to re-evaluate how we attract and retain staff, recognising that today’s workforce has different expectations.”He told Freight News that the industry also faced sustainability challenges as customers, partners, employees, regulators and financial partners increased their demands for demonstrated and verified credentials across the full array of sustainability criteria. “In this regard, Tiaca has launched a programme, BlueSky, designed to help companies in this regard. In the short term, we may also face some model shifts as economies slow down and manufacturers seek less expensive supply chain solutions.”He said despite the numerous challenges, it was uplifting to see how the industry was addressing the critical issues within its scope of inf luence. “Internal factors such as digitalisation, innovation, collaboration, transparency, sustainability and workforce challenges are featuring on CEOs' radar, and we are seeing positive action on all these topics. This leads me to be very confident that the industry is well placed to capitalise when the next period of growth occurs."
