	#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE

Vol. 25 No. 12		Tuesday January 20, 2026

Snapshot Look Back At 2025

      As for some of my friends and connections, last year was not the best for me from many points of view… so I harboured great expectations for 2026. I always nourish big hopes for the New Year, unsurprisingly, as we always expect a wave of love all over the world, when a mystic, collective frenzy for partying follows the course of our artificially created timelines. We all hope that turning the page on the last day in December will start a new and promising period in January, but the news on Jan 1st 2026 was either tragic or puzzling.
      Many Europeans, Italians in particular as many of the victims were indeed Italians, were awakened by the disaster in Crans-Montana, CH, where a number of teenage partygoers lost their lives in a fire. Venezuela topped the bill on the next day for reasons everyone knows by now; on balance it is difficult to consider Maduro’s capture purely as good news. Greenland is making Europeans, and perhaps even some Americans, wonder what happens next. In all this, air cargo seemed to take the back seat and enjoy a peaceful ride into the new year, but is it really so peaceful in our backyard? Probably not, if we have to judge by some respectable publications confusing 2026 forecast with last year’s, but who are we to judge? In the end they might even be right . . .
      Sabiha and I had a chat, started with our best wishes for the holidays, and inevitably we ended talking business and having a go at our 2025 articles. We decided to retrospectively consider what last year’s events could mean in 2026 and perhaps further afield.

Last year did start with flying colours when IATA declared that we would be “flying by the trillions”. By the summer though, we were made aware that these expectations had been probably overambitious. Yet the year did not close with a dip, so both those who were shouting bull and those who were shouting bear were proven wrong. In any case by mid-April, IATA had already opened up to reflect on the ever changing situation and we were given the opportunity to publish our comments, which were noted both by our regulars and outside of this close circle.

The FIATA-IATA conversation is a regular feature of our air cargo pages, 2025 being no exception. We have seen many ups and downs in the relationship between these two great organizations in the last couple of decades, and our springtime article registered the swing with no surprise. As we all know, the global air cargo programme that forwarders seem to desire continues to remain in their wish list, but there were other noteworthy developments in particular in the area of training.
Looking ahead, infrastructure captured much attention last year, taking the headlines several times in different ways. We featured an almost incredulously happy chapter by taking note that an imminent and dangerous port strike had been averted in the USA. On the other side of the waters, we featured an infrastructure history piece which described the story of an almost incredible achievement for a small country as the Kingdom of Sardinia was then. By now we have drilled so many tunnels all over the world that their completion struggles to gain the front line in the news, but at that time it was a pretty exceptional achievement. Unfortunately, the western hemisphere does not seem so keen to keep pace with its glorious past and seems to have passed the baton of infrastructure building over to Asians.

Port Strike Averted

Tunnel Achievements

Talking of infrastructure, we overstepped and eventually landed in the minefield of tariff and trade. Starting in April, this was probably the most commanding topic of the year. As we have seen, Trump’s April elating prose came later to meet the rigours of China’s negotiating ability and other trading partners’ repartees, so the picture of U.S. trade today is far less triumphant than it sounded in the spring of last year, yet nobody can deny that April’s big shock has awoken many sleeping partners in trade that were accustomed to an atmosphere of laissez-faire that should/could be changed. The world did not come to a halt as some predicted, but it is still evolving and nobody is really sure of the final outcome. Things are moving nonetheless and that is good news. At the time of publication everything seemed so unpredictable that we in our middle of the year article were left with big questions only.

This being said, the aspect of the new U.S. administration’s measures that most captured our readers’ attention was, even above the five letter word ‘tariff’ (smile please…), ‘de minimis’. The concept was featured in one, two and three articles that were amongst those topping the list of our readership. The last of these articles ends with a phrase that I particularly like and describes the meandering ways which international trade has to circumvent and overwhelm whatever obstacle it finds on its path. In the end trade always wins, even the most pugnacious of our governors, even the harshest measures to contain it. We are all eventually getting older and weaker, including our leaders, but trade persistently flows even after they are gone.

At FT we are trying to provide our readers with a decent account of what happens in the area of air cargo, often expanding to trade and logistics in general. We all know how important are the rules of the game and how much these have been modified over the course of many years. Security and compliance are today the guiding principles that create the framework where international traders operate, so this is an aspect that our readers cannot ignore. Consequently, we try to build conversations with those who are in a position to guide us in the complex area of rules and rulemaking. Readers told us that our article on the compliance galaxy was extremely useful to them: nothing could make us happier. Similar comments were made by those who appreciated the IT and technology related articles; in particular, one of our conversations seemed to have expanded the technology horizon for our readers. We are really grateful for the contributions of the personalities, who generously parted with their knowledge and experience for the benefit of our community.
Air Cargo means also social interaction, celebration and fun. This normally happens at trade shows and large air cargo gatherings. Celebrations and tradeshows were amply featured all year long, but we also devoted much of our time to listening to educational conversations. The air cargo industry prides itself of its long standing collaboration with universities and learning institutions all over the world. The Embry Riddle Aeronautical University entertained two champions of our industry talking about Air Cargo’s Strategic Role in Global Trade. We couldn’t have missed for the world, so we tuned in and listened carefully. We auspiciously closed this article shouting “Long Live Air Cargo!”.

In the end 2025 was the year that was and I still believe 2026 will be better for everybody. That is how we always walk into the future: with big hopes and finger crossed. This kind of cautious expectation always reminds me of Susan Sarandon’s role in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, her incredulous eyes exposed to the bewildering scenes of the comedy. Disquieting, yet audacious and full of unexpected hope for the future, this film took a long journey to immortal fame, but is now considered a thorough masterpiece. Its double feature picture show song still rings in our ears fifty years after its release and – fifty years after its release – “it is the longest-running theatrical release in film history”, as Wikipedia puts it.
It’s a wrap, ladies and gentlemen: that was our own double feature for the year we have just left. Difficult to predict how all this will sound in the next fifty years, if ever. So let’s walk into the future in 2026 with big hopes and fingers crossed.
Marco L. Sorgetti

If You Missed Any Of The Previous 3 Issues Of FlyingTypers Access complete issue by clicking on issue icon or Access specific articles by clicking on article title
Vol. 24 No. 52 Indo-Afghan Cargo Okayed Chuckles for December 10 China-India Cargo Imbalance Kendra Tanner Keynote Life After Air Cargo	Vol 24 No. 53 60 Years Going Strong Colombia 2025 One More Gathering Remembering Nol van Fenema	Vol. 25 No. 1 Why AirCargo 2026 Must Attend Event? February Forward At MCO Cargo Show Chuckles for January 13, 2026 Remembering A German Air Cargo Legend

Publisher-Geoffrey Arend • Managing Editor-Flossie Arend • Editor Emeritus-Richard Malkin
Senior Contributing Editor/Special Commentaries-Marco Sorgetti • Special Commentaries Editor-Bob Rogers
Special Assignments-Sabiha Arend, Emily Arend • Film Editor-Ralph Arend

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