The global air cargo industry continues to be held hostage to COVID-19 and its variants, with the default response by governments to impose widespread travel bans, forcing the cancellation of countless long-haul flights and the belly cargo capacity below deck that is so urgently needed. On top of the flight disruptions are uncoordinated and ill-considered quarantine measures around the world that reduce the handling capacity of air cargo terminals and trap airline crew in endless cycles of quarantine. The air cargo industry is closing in on a brutal two years of tightly limited space on the trades out of Asia and record-high freight rates, with ongoing travel restrictions further delaying the resumption of international travel at the sort of scale that will ease the chronic capacity shortage. Initial predictions by the International Air Transport Association were for a return to 2019 capacity by 2023, but that is looking less likely as new COVID-19 variants pop up. In this one-on-one discussion, Glyn Hughes, director general of The International Air Cargo Association, will put his vast industry knowledge to work in tackling the question, “When will air cargo capacity return at scale on the trans–Pacific and Asia–Europe trades?”