OCR 2880 (ACE) - Charging for Cargo

One important aspect of the OCR 2880 case study (ACE) is the revenue generated for the airport by cargo. So how does an airport charge for cargo flights?

The airline actually carrying the cargo charges its customer based on the total weight flown. The customer will typically be a “freight forwarder” - in effect a middleman that arranges airfreight for its own customers, consolidating various freight requests into a smaller number of consignments to load onto the aircraft.

For the airport, cargo revenue is generated based on the total weight of the aircraft landing and taking off. That total weight includes both the aircraft AND the freight on board.

So how is the weight priced? The case study airport ACE is based on East Midlands Airport, so let’s look at how they charge for cargo. There are three key elements:

A standard “runway charge” -of £1.75 per tonne; paid by all cargo aircraft. That is the minimum price.

In addition, the airport charges a supplement for cargo aircraft that want to arrive or depart at certain times:

Daytime - Shoulder Supplement £1.55 per tonne (levied on arrivals and/or departures between 0601-0700 or 2101-2329 local time)

Nightime supplement - £2.33 - £2.85 (depending on noise band of aircraft), levied on arrivals and/or departures between 2330-0600 local time

Fo flying cargo into and out of ACE during the night would be approximately three times the price that is charged for a daytime operation.