The air cargo industry has historically been reliant on older, more polluting aircraft compared to those used for passenger operations. However, with the ever-increasing focus on the environment, the air cargo industry considers ways to reduce its carbon footprint. 

Airlines and air freight operators are looking to achieve this by utilizing new technologies, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), jet stream, flight plans to avoid the atmospheric conditions in which contrails form, and lighter unit load devices (ULDs) to ship more packages at once. 

In addition, many companies are setting ambitious goals to improve the efficiency and sustainability of direct operations in a short timeframe.