Trucks benefit from Kansas City airfreight declines

KANSAS CITY International Airport (KCI) was on target to exceed 10 million passengers with year end tracking to 2005 figures, but cargo tonnage has decreased to be benefit of truckers, reported the local news portal infoZine.

Cargo tonnage at the airport which consists of freight and mail were down year to date 10.6 per cent and 23.6 per cent in November. Mail was down 29.1 per cent compared to last year with all-cargo carriers reporting six daily departures during the month.

Its handling figures during November reached over 17 million pounds, a substantial decrease of 23.3 per cent a further indication of an underlying shift in national use of truck transport for freight rather than air.

The airport's ground tonnage increased by 33 per cent over October's figures and it recorded a total of 20.2 million pounds, a 33 per cent uplift according to the ground tonnage index which measures time-definite products carried by ground modes of transport.

Source: Schednet