• The airfreight industry faced a challenging 2025, with regulatory pressures from Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other agencies, alongside tariff uncertainty, rising cargo theft, and airport congestion. Brandon Fried of Airforwarders Association describes the year as one of constant adjustment, where stakeholders focused on staying reactive rather than strategic.
• Forwarders had to navigate uneven demand, shifting freighter networks, and compliance burdens, making operational agility the defining factor in 2025. The combination of policy unpredictability and security initiatives, including Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) expansions, created significant operational and financial strain.
• For 2026, priorities include proactive security readiness, coordinated cargo theft mitigation, and targeted technology investment to improve data visibility, throughput, and stakeholder communication. Fried emphasises that forwarders must also monitor tariff volatility and policy changes, with the overarching goal of moving from defensive to strategic, proactive operations.

Between compliance burdens, cargo theft, and policy unpredictability, 2025 tested the airfreight industry’s resilience. According to Brandon Fried, Executive Director of the Airforwarders Association, the past year forced forwarders to stay reactive, and left little room for strategic moves.

 From regulatory overhauls to rising security risks, Brandon Fried, Executive Director, Airforwarders Association, says 2026 must be the year the industry stops firefighting and gets back to being proactive. 

What was this year’s biggest challenge for the industry?

Brandon Fried: “Capacity and stability may have improved, but the biggest challenge was the regulatory pressure cooker the industry found itself in. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and multiple other federal agencies rolled out or proposed major security and compliance changes, including the expansion of Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS), screening program updates, and initiatives to prevent cargo theft, without fully considering the operational and financial strain on forwarders.”

  “Add to that tariff uncertainty and shifting trade policies, plus rising cargo theft and ongoing airport congestion, and the industry spent much of the year trying to keep up rather than get ahead.” 

How would you summarise the airfreight industry in 2025?

“2025 was the year of ‘adjustment while moving.’ Demand was uneven, compliance burdens jumped, freighter networks kept shifting, and policy unpredictability, especially around tariffs, forced companies to remain flexible. From forwarders to airports, every stakeholder had to recalibrate quickly.”

  “It wasn’t a bad year, but it was a grinding, transition-heavy year where agility mattered more than anything.”

What should the industry focus on throughout 2026?

Executive Director of the Airforwarders Association recommends three key priorities for the coming year.

  Security readiness: “Prepare now for TSA rule changes, expanded data requirements, and tighter oversight. The days of last-minute compliance are over.”

  Cargo theft mitigation: “Theft is hitting levels we haven’t seen before. Industry and government cooperation needs to move from ‘discussion’ to coordinated ‘action.’”

  Technology investment to solve bottlenecks: “Too many hype projects have over promised and underdelivered. Forwarders need tools that improve data visibility, airport throughput, and communication with carriers and ground handlers.”

  “And woven through all of this, companies must watch tariff volatility and policy shifts as these will affect routing decisions, landed cost calculations, and customer expectations.

  “The overriding theme,” Fried concludes, “is that 2026 must be the year the industry becomes proactive again rather than remaining on the defensive.”

The post Airfreight faces a pivotal reset appeared first on Air Cargo Week.