CARGOMAP - Air Cargo Technology Road Map
Overview
Background & policy context:
The Air Cargo technology roadmap was about the future role of air freight and the definition of a technology roadmap for future cargo aircraft responding to end user requirements and environmental needs. In order to improve seamless flow of goods, inter-modality and co-modality approaches were considered within the SESAR operational concept.
Objectives:
The main issues of the CARGO project were:
- Analysis of current situations (at the commencement of the project) versus the demand with the involvement of the stakeholders in Europe amongst all actors (manufacturers, research establishments, regulators, airspace users, infrastructure providers, airport managers);
- Expected future bottlenecks/challenges in air freight transport and the identification of the corresponding requirements. The requirements were to identify the technology needs and regulatory issues to be addressed;
- Synopsis and evaluation of possible improvements related to future business models;
- Definition of a technology roadmap which was to fill the technology/regulatory/operative gaps in order to fulfil the requirements considering the current capabilities;
- Besides the core activities an effort was dedicated to disseminating the results.
The project investigated what new challenges and opportunities existed for new air cargo operations in the future, responding to societal challenges and the concept of seamless multi modal transport chains.
Methodology:
Based on business models for such new types of air cargo operations, the need for novel dedicated air cargo planes was derived and the technologies that were needed to create these novel airplanes were to be identified in a roadmap. This was a totally new approach within the Frame Work Programme. Whilst identifying novel technologies, only those specific to air cargo operations were shown in the roadmap, assuming that generic technologies in aviation took place. The roadmap identified current and planned research and missing elements, enabling a new generation of air cargo aircraft to be realised.
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