As airspace in Europe opens, and the UK government admits that safety precautions were over-zealous, carriers and freight forwarders are hoping that they will be able to clear the backlog of cargo which has built up over the past few days. Some industry spokesmen say that this could take at least three weeks, and that airlines may use the opportunity to increase rates as forwarders and logistics providers compete for cargo space to northern Europe. Getting planes back into position will be complicated, as carriers were forced to land fully loaded wherever they could, and still have to off-load the freight before they can be sent back to Asia to take another load.
