Modal Choice for Urgent Consignments between Britain and Western Europe Available to Purchase

Air freight is often used in the transport of goods between the United Kingdom and Western European destinations despite a well developed, competitive and generally much cheaper road groupage (consolidation) industry. In particular, until 1980, express road services with fast delivery times comparable to air do not appear to have made much impact on shippers. This paper examines some of the possible reasons for the continuing existence of a reasonably high level of demand for air freight to Western Europe from the United Kingdom. Air freight appears to be used mainly for the sake of urgency which is usually associated with transit time. This paper examines some of the other factors which may be taken into account by shippers when deciding between air and surface transport.