Interpretive structural modelling approach to assess financial attributes of the air cargo industry

Air cargo represents about one-third of the total value of global trade carried and is therefore an essential player in the world economy. Monitoring the financial stability of air cargo carriers is vital to the industry, governments, and stakeholders. To detect financial difficulties within the aviation industry numerous prediction models have been developed, but most focus on the passenger airlines. In addition, these prediction models typically do not take into account essential non-statistical factors. This paper identified qualitative factors that could influence the financial health of all-cargo airlines and attempted to understand the interaction among them. The factors were identified based on previous research and validated by expert opinions. Interpretive structural modelling (ISM) was used to determine any mutual influences among the factors. Further, the ISM methodology was able to establish the level of the factors and determine their driving power and dependence. The results are very useful for air cargo management in that they can use the findings of this study to overcome dominant factors.