Air Cargo Carrier Selection: The Case of Turkey

In this study, 5 companies operating in Turkey and carrying out the most air cargo shipments in 2021 (Turkish Cargo, MNG Airlines and Transportation, ACT Air Cargo, ULS Airlines Cargo Transportation and Sunexpress Cargo Transportation.) were investigated The aim is to evaluate and analyze them according to different criteria. These are 12 different criteria: Breadth of the network, the productivity of employees, adequacy of equipments, flexibility, undamaged delivery, image, cost, customer information systems, handling customer requests and complaints, special cargo handling capabilities, flight frequency, and punctuality. In the research design, using the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method, the opinions of 9 different experienced and active experts in the sector were used to evaluate the relevant criteria. A scale of 1 to 5 was used in the evaluation of the companies, with a value of 5 representing the maximum benefit for this criterion. As a result of the research, it was found that the most significant criteria in selecting air cargo companies are undamaged delivery, costs, and on-time delivery. In addition, (1) image, (2) flexibility, and (3) special cargo handling capabilities are among the results of the research, which are the least significant criteria. Another important result of this research is that Turkish Cargo is ranked first and MNG Airlines and Transportation are ranked second.