In Europe, the gulf between express and general cargo continues to widen.

With results in from many of the world's major cargo carriers and airports, air freight demand data from May are looking strong.

UK-based Hybrid Air Vehicles has resumed test flights of its Airlander 10 hybrid airship after a nine-month hiatus. The program suffered a setback last year after the test aircraft took a nosedive while attempting to land.

The big three Western European air carriers have all reported their January cargo results, and all three show improving performance.

The International Air Transport Association released its air freight market analysis for December 2015, showing a slight (0.8 percent) year-over-year increase in worldwide cargo traffic (in freight tonne kilometers flown). This 0.8-percent overall gain was the result of a 0.7-percent decrease in international traffic and a 1.4-percent increase in domestic traffic.

If you have been following the news from the express and e-commerce industries lately, you could be forgiven for thinking that the big U.S. integrators are in serious trouble, trembling at the thought of Amazon not only pulling its business from UPS and FedEx, but also competing for their remaining business.

U.S.-based lessor and asset manager Aviation Capital Group placed a firm order for fifteen 737-800 passenger-to-freighter conversions with Aeronautical Engineers Inc (AEI), with options for fifteen additional conversions. The announcement was made at the Cargo Facts Aircraft Symposium in Miami.