Originally Posted by
3pointlanding
Freighters are the last to be affected by good times and the first to be affected by bad times.
I think you have that backwards. The passenger carriers are much more cyclical and sensitive to even small changes in the economy. People can easily forgo travel or select a cheaper mode. They are less likely to stop buying items until the economy has been in a longer downturn. When the economy cranks back up, those material cravings seem to return very quickly. Express gains rapidly as there is a rush to refill the supply chain to take advantage of the improving consumer purchasing power. This is one of the reasons that FedEx and UPS have had much more stable histories than just about any passenger carrier.