Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: bestanden, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, course: AIM Seminar, language: English, abstract: Globalization and internationalization as well as growing competition exert enormous pressure on companies to effectively adapt to future changes in the fast moving business world of today. In these times, longer distances have to be overcome. Therefore, the airfreight industry is becoming more and more important. Customers’ requirements become more sophisticated and complex. Companies need to offer logistic solutions that satisfy customers’ high individuality and flexibility. Moreover, time turned into a valuable asset which is of immense significance. As a result, commodities have to be transported as fast as possible. And only one mode of transportation may cover these requirements: air transportation. Shipping by air over long distances is much quicker than long distance shipping by any other mode of transportation, and thus the only choice for shipments such as express mail, animals, and cut flowers. Air transportation may be more expensive than other modes of transportation but savings in areas like inventory costs and damages can offset the higher airfreight costs. However, staying competitive on the air cargo market is a big challenge for air freighters – strong competition on the market forces them to lower costs as much as possible, offer best quality products as well as constantly enhancing customer services. It may seem that only long-established companies are able to resist this strong competition but reality shows that also newcomers implicate required competencies. This term paper will focus on two internationally operating airfreight companies, Emirates SkyCargo and Lufthansa Cargo. In the beginning, the current situation on the airfreight market will be analyzed. Furthermore, it will be focused on the two air cargo carriers introducing them by means of history, facts and figures. Afterwards, four competitive elements, fleet, products and logistics services, alliances as well as strategies and future visions, will be analyzed and compared.weiterlesen