Factors in forwarders selection of airline operators

Paper in proceeding, 2007

The airfreight market has changed in resent years and turned more dynamic resulting in shorter term contracts between airline operators and their customers than before. The forwarders play a central role in this development and in this study, the factors that the forwarders use to choose airline operators, are analyzed. The factors have been revealed from an empirical study where forwarders were interviewed on their preferences on the issue. The results show that although price is a major determinant in contracting, especially for the smaller forwarders, service and quality of services in addition to lead times play a chief role in determining the airline operator to work with on certain routes.