• Airfreight across the Americas is facing a growing labour and skills shortage heading into 2026, with staffing gaps in ground handling, pilots, and air-traffic control increasingly constraining operations despite rising demand
• Workforce shortfalls are causing slower cargo processing, longer aircraft turnarounds, air-traffic control disruptions, and clearance delays, highlighted by tower closures in Canada and widespread delays during the 2025 U.S. government shutdown
• Industry responses focus on rebuilding the workforce pipeline through training, recruitment, and credential portability, but human expertise remains the critical limiting factor as automation cannot fully replace skilled air-cargo labour

Airfreight across the Americas is entering 2026 with a pressure few public statistics capture: a widening labour and skills shortage that threatens to slow operations just as demand and complexity are rising. From ramp crews in Miami to Canadian air-traffic controllers, airfreight in the Americas is increasingly constrained not so much by aircraft, but lately by people, or rather, a lack thereof.

Ground handling bottleneck

Post-pandemic, many airports and handlers cut staff aggressively. But as traffic recovered, recruitment has not necessarily kept pace: the global ground-handling workforce remains well below pre-2020 levels, and many seasoned staff have moved on.

A survey conducted earlier this year found that 59 percent of air cargo workers had seriously considered leaving the industry. Their key complaints include unpredictable schedules, outdated technology, and limited career progression. Many ground handlers also cite wages comparable to retail work despite greater responsibility and less sociable hours.

The result for cargo operators: slower ULD build-ups, longer ramp times, delayed aircraft turnaround, all of which undermine the speed-and-flexibility promise that airfreight is supposed to deliver.

Freighter networks and air traffic control

Labour pressures don’t end on the tarmac. The shortage of qualified pilots and air-traffic controllers is fast becoming a structural headache for freighter and charter operators across North America.

In Canada, controller shortages have forced periodic closures of air-traffic control towers at regional airports, including at Kelowna and Winnipeg. When staffing is tight, towers are shut during low-traffic periods to allow mandatory breaks, significantly undermining network resilience. The union representing Canadian controllers warned these closures “indicate a lack of resilience in the system due to staffing challenges.”

In the United States, widespread controller and TSA staffing gaps, exacerbated by the October 2025 federal government shutdown, triggered flight cancellations and ground-stops at key hubs. Since October 6, thousands of flights have been cancelled or delayed, with about 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 TSA agents working without pay. A five-hour ground stop occurred at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on 13 October due to controller shortages, whilst nearly 2,200 flights were delayed at Charlotte Douglas International in the shutdown’s first two weeks. 

Screening and support-staff shortages

Labour shortages also affect the less visible but equally critical support segments of airfreight: customs officers, security screeners, and cargo-handling clerks. When these roles are understaffed, the result is slower clearance, longer dwell times, and compounding delays.

During the October U.S. shutdown, many TSA agents responsible for screening cargo bound for passenger belly or freight-only flights worked without pay. Airports in Memphis and Louisville, two major cargo hubs, reported that their cargo-focused TSA agents were working unpaid, creating vulnerability to staffing shortages.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that while ports of entry remained operational, thousands of support staff were furloughed, delaying inspections and increasing customs clearance times. On 9 October, delays of up to six hours were reported at the Ciudad Juárez–El Paso border crossings, critical for U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico.

Rebuilding the air-cargo workforce pipeline

In May 2023, IATA launched its Ground Operations Training Passport, a shared credential system allowing qualified ground-handling staff to move between employers without redundant retraining, supporting both worker mobility and operational flexibility. In September 2025, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration expanded its Enhanced Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative to nine universities, fast-tracking controller certification to address chronic shortages.

At Miami International Airport, the Americas’ leading international freight hub, Menzies Aviation launched recruitment drives in July 2025, emphasising training “to the highest standards” as it established operations. 

AGI, the Miami-headquartered handler with over 12,000 employees across 62 airports, has similarly committed to workforce investment to support the airport’s long-term growth as a cargo gateway.

Yet technology alone cannot solve the challenge. While automation, robotics, and digital cargo management tools can relieve pressure on some roles, airfreight’s core functions—dangerous-goods acceptance, ULD build-up, special-cargo loading, security screening, and ramp-side coordination—still require human judgement, training, and compliance with strict safety regulations.

People, not planes, are becoming air-cargo’s scarce asset

2026 is shaping up to be a year of workforce reinvention, not a dramatic collapse, but a quiet rebuild of the infrastructure behind the cargo. Those operators that recognise labour and skills as critical infrastructure will not only avert disruption but set the foundation for the next era of growth.

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