I think I have several points to make here, resulting from numerous comments, hence no quotes….

Firstly, it is extremely important that freighters are reliable, ESPECIALLY when looking at the integrators (DHL, UPS, FedEx, TNT etc). By the very nature of their business they must have reliable operations in order that they may promise tight delivery times. These companies are the largest parcel and freight handlers going. I think the fact is that freight tends to be less bothered whether it is in a nice shiny new aeroplane or a 15 year old model doing much the same thing. When airlines boast about the average age of their fleets it is designed to impress passengers. So the freight carriers can capitalise on second hand aircrfat rates. Don’t be fooled though, many freight companies do buy NEW aircraft, ie. Cargolux 747s, UPS 757/767Fs, A300s, Fedex A300s and some earlier A310s. Furthermore add to that the fact that Air France, SIA and many other airlines tend to add new freighters to their fleets.

In answer to Robbelc, freight carriers tend to be very profitable, and there are plenty of examples of good freight airlines. Just because a freight carrier is an arm of a passenger carrier, does not mean it is not a profitable standalone business, in fact most of these airlines are almost completely standalone and profitable, I name companies such as Lufthansa Cargo, Air France Cargo and SIA Cargo among many (Japan airlines’ subsiduary, ANC….All Nippon Cargo, which actually is not fully owned by ANA, KAL Cargo, Eva Airways Cargo, China Airlines’ Cargo arm…the list REALLY goes on). It was rumoured for many years that a 747 could fly across the Atlantic and make a profit based on belly hold cargo alone, without any passengers! Reliable freight servcies are worth their weight in gold, and as tenthije may testify they pay very good rates..certainly above the rate a passenger pays considereing the amount of space they use.

Freight is one of the fastest growing areas of Air Transport, the switches to JIT (Just In Time) processing and changes to the types of industry out there (ie small volume, high value such as IT equipment) are driving such growth.