IAG Cargo has shipped over 1000 ‘Critical’ shipments to date since launch in October 2016, achieving the milestone with a shipment of automotive parts from Europe to South America. Critical is IAG Cargo’s premium product for urgent and emergency shipments, providing guaranteed capacity and enhanced shipment monitoring for ‘must-fly’ goods. David Shepherd, Commercial Director at IAG Cargo commented: “Critical has performed exceptionally well since launch. Week on week we are seeing new orders and repeat business coming in from customers who need to ensure they can get their goods to where they’re needed, when they’re needed. We’re also seeing freight forwarders using the service to guarantee capacity on some of our busier routes. The product has proved to be robust, even during the Christmas peak, and we expect to see demand continue to grow over the coming months.” Demand for Critical has come from right across the IAG Cargo global network, with the product proving particularly popular for shipments of low-weight goods. Key trade flows include automotive parts travelling from Europe to assembly lines in South America, particularly Mexico; as well as high tech goods moving from North American cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles to technology hubs including Dublin, Tel Aviv and London. Aerospace is another strong market for Critical, particularly for goods including engine parts and in-cabin technology. While Critical has widely been used to enable Just-in-time production for manufacturers or to fix a costly fault at speed, some of the goods carried on the service have been unexpected. The service has shipped tuna fish from Mauritius to Los Angeles and seen tyres speed over to the US for the Grand Prix last year.