Air cargo is still too often left out of the policy conversations that shape the future of aviation, according to Leonardo Boszczowski, regional officer for aviation security and facilitation at ICAO.
Speaking at the IATA World Cargo Symposium in Peru, Boszczowski said it remains common for national aviation strategies, airport master plans and operational frameworks to focus heavily on passengers while giving insufficient attention to cargo.
He noted that air cargo governance frequently develops in parallel to broader aviation governance rather than as an integrated component of it. That disconnect is also visible at airport level, where cargo stakeholders are often absent from infrastructure planning and operational decision-making.
Boszczowski pointed to security management as a clear example. At many airports, he said, aviation security managers are deeply familiar with passenger-side processes such as access control and baggage screening, but have far less understanding of cargo operations. As a result, when regulators or inspectors want to assess cargo security processes, responsibility is often passed to cargo specialists rather than handled as part of a fully integrated airport system.
He also identified service-level performance as another area where cargo is overlooked. Passenger operations are routinely measured through indicators such as immigration queue times and check-in efficiency, while similar discussions around cargo terminal performance are often missing.
That imbalance, he argued, reflects a deeper problem: cargo is still widely seen as a niche activity instead of a core pillar of aviation. Treating it that way can limit performance across the entire airport ecosystem.
Boszczowski urged cargo stakeholders to become more active in national air transport and airport facilitation committees, where interagency coordination takes place and operational bottlenecks can be identified and addressed. Greater cargo involvement in these structures, he said, would help align governance with performance and improve a country’s overall air cargo competitiveness.
His message was clear: air cargo should no longer sit on the sidelines of aviation policy.
