Air Cargo is used to move mission critical, high value / time sensitive goods and packages. 75% of ‘Air Cargo’ into and out of Ireland is in the ‘bellyhold’ of passenger flights, the balance is via dedicated air cargo operators. Night-time is the most important time for the movement of air freight as it is used to move items whose value is defined by their speed and / or certainty of delivery and for whom international delivery times need to be measured in hours rather than days.
Services that use night flight are often referred to as express or priority services. Night flights facilitate Irish business to send financial, legal or business documents, critical manufacturing components, perishable produce, urgent consumer goods or even time critical medical or pharmaceutical products over night to arrive the next day. Night flights are central to supporting high value manufacturing exports – over 80% of the freight handled at night in 2018 was imports, with the early morning arrivals mainly operated by express freight airlines, accounting for around 28,500 tonnes
