Behind every Mother’s Day bouquet is a global cargo race

Every year, as Mother’s Day approaches, something very familiar begins to happen across the world.

People walk into flower shops after work. Some stand outside roadside stalls trying to choose between roses and lilies. Others place online orders late at night, hoping the bouquet reaches home on time. Children remind fathers not to forget flowers. Airports, meanwhile, begin preparing for one of their busiest perishables seasons of the year.

For most of us, flowers feel simple.

We buy them because they say something we sometimes struggle to express properly. They carry emotion without needing many words. A bouquet placed in a mother’s hands often becomes part of a small family moment that lasts only a few minutes, but stays in memory much longer.

What we rarely think about is the journey those flowers make before reaching us.

Behind every bouquet is a supply chain moving at incredible speed across countries, airports and cargo terminals. Flowers cut in farms across Colombia and Ecuador may travel thousands of kilometres within hours. Workers at warehouses handle them through the night. Airlines rearrange schedules to create space. Ground handlers move shipments through temperature-controlled rooms. Customs officers inspect boxes carefully to stop pests and diseases from crossing borders.

And all of this happens under pressure because flowers cannot wait.

This year, that pressure felt even heavier.

Mother’s Day 2026 arrived at a time when the global air cargo industry was already dealing with tighter capacity, changing trade conditions, rising operational costs and geopolitical uncertainty linked to the Middle East crisis. Yet despite those challenges, airlines, forwarders, airports and logistics teams still moved millions upon millions of flowers across international markets within a very short time window.

That is what made this season important.

It was not only a story about flower demand. It became a story about how the global perishables logistics network adapted under pressure while trying to keep one of the world’s most time-sensitive cargo flows moving smoothly.

A season that pushed the network harder
One of the clearest signs of this pressure came from Avianca Cargo, which described this year as the largest Mother’s Day season in its history.

The airline transported more than 21,000 tonnes of flowers during the peak period and operated more than 330 cargo flights to support demand. According to the carrier, nearly 42 % of Colombian flower exports to the United States travelled on Avianca aircraft this season. Including exports from Ecuador, the airline said one out of every three flowers exported from the region moved through its network.

To understand the scale of the operation, it helps to move beyond percentages and tonnes for a moment.

Avianca Cargo said around 330 million flower stems were transported during the season. At peak moments, the airline handled nearly 24 million stems within a single day.

These numbers reveal how Mother’s Day has evolved into far more than a seasonal retail event for the cargo industry. It has become one of the biggest annual stress tests for perishables logistics.

And the pressure does not fall on airlines alone.

To support the surge, Avianca Cargo expanded almost every part of its operation. The carrier increased its dedicated freighter fleet to nine aircraft during the season, adding two more freighters compared with last year. It also secured additional leased capacity so that flower demand would not affect service across other cargo markets.

At the same time, ground operations had to grow rapidly.

In Miami, the airline increased its workforce by 20 % and worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to open a new inspection area aimed at speeding up processing times. In Bogotá, warehouse capacity increased by 35 %, while Medellín saw a 41 % expansion in handling space.

Diogo Elias, CEO of Avianca Cargo, said the results reflected both the scale of the operation and the level of coordination required across the logistics chain.

“Mother’s Day remains one of the most significant seasons for the flower industry, and we are proud to deliver another strong performance that reinforces our leadership in the market,” Elias said. “This year’s results reflect the scale of our operation and the trust our partners place in us to move more than 21,000 tons of flowers to the United States.”

What becomes clear from these operations is that flowers are no longer treated as just another cargo product during peak seasons. They move through carefully engineered supply chains where timing matters at every stage.

Why flowers create so much pressure
The challenge with flowers is simple to explain.

Unlike electronics, machinery or garments, flowers begin losing value almost immediately if delays happen. Even a few extra hours in warm temperatures or crowded warehouses can affect freshness and shorten shelf life.

That means the cargo industry is constantly racing against time.

Flights must depart on schedule. Cold storage must work properly. Warehouses must avoid congestion. Inspection processes must move quickly. Truck connections must be coordinated carefully.

When one part slows down, the entire shipment feels the impact.

This year, those risks became harder to manage because the wider cargo market was already operating under pressure.

A market behaving more carefully
That changing market environment was explained clearly by DHL Global Forwarding.

Pramod Bagalwadi, CEO for DHL Global Forwarding East Africa, said demand into key European markets such as the Netherlands appeared more measured compared with previous peak seasons. According to him, rising costs and uncertainty pushed some customers to plan more cautiously rather than creating the sharp seasonal spikes usually associated with Mother’s Day.

That point matters because it shows something deeper happening beneath the strong shipment numbers.

The market remained active, but companies were behaving differently.

Instead of relying on fixed seasonal planning, logistics providers increasingly had to react in real time. Bagalwadi explained that solutions were often identified and executed within 24 to 48 hours depending on available capacity.

Sometimes this meant finding space on alternative airlines. Sometimes it meant rerouting cargo through different hubs. In other cases, forwarders combined shipment volumes to create workable transport solutions.

Bagalwadi said the company’s focus remained on maintaining flexibility and continuity for customers in what he described as a complex environment.

This may sound technical, but it reflects a major shift in how modern air cargo operates.

A few years ago, flower seasons followed more predictable patterns. Airlines planned schedules months ahead, exporters booked space early and routes remained relatively stable.

Today, however, the market changes constantly.

Geopolitical tensions, airspace restrictions, fuel prices and capacity shortages can reshape cargo flows within days. Logistics providers are now forced to adapt almost continuously.

The Middle East crisis and rising pressure on air cargo
One of the biggest background pressures this season came from the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

The conflict did not stop flower exports, but it added strain to an already tight cargo market. Airlines across the industry faced higher operating costs, longer routings in some areas and growing uncertainty around capacity planning.

Bagalwadi said freight rates for perishables increased this season because of tighter market conditions and the continuing impact of geopolitical developments, particularly in the Middle East.

This is important because flower logistics depends heavily on reliable timing.

When air cargo networks face disruption elsewhere in the world, the effects spread quickly. Available space becomes tighter, operating costs rise and shipments become harder to plan.

For flowers, even small disruptions matter.

Bagalwadi explained that perishables like flowers operate within very limited time windows. While temperature-controlled storage and handling can extend shelf life, timing remains critical throughout the supply chain.

He said the industry currently faces three major operational pressures at the same time: maintaining product quality in cold storage, securing viable flight capacity and doing all of this within extremely tight deadlines.

That balancing act has become one of the defining challenges of modern perishables logistics.

Precision matters as much as capacity
Another important insight this season came from LATAM Cargo.

The airline transported around 24,400 tonnes of flowers during the Mother’s Day season and said it maintained its leadership position for the fourth consecutive year.

But the more interesting part of the company’s message was not the volume itself.

Instead, the airline spoke about operational precision.

In a LinkedIn post, LATAM Cargo executives Desiree Aramburu and Viviana Quintero explained how teams worked to optimise every available space inside aircraft while protecting freshness standards throughout the journey.

That detail reveals something important about the industry today.

Success during flower seasons is no longer only about adding more flights. It is also about using every aircraft, warehouse and handling process as efficiently as possible.

Every pallet position matters. Every transfer matters. Every minute matters.

That level of precision is becoming increasingly important as cargo markets grow tighter and more unpredictable.

Airports are becoming key players in the flower trade
The pressure created by Mother’s Day was also visible at airports across Latin America.

Mariscal Sucre International Airport reported record flower exports during the season and said it had risen to fourth place among cargo airports in Latin America.

The airport handled around 24,800 tonnes of flowers during the peak period, marking strong year-on-year growth.

This shows how flower logistics is now influencing airport infrastructure and cargo development across the region.

Airports are not simply acting as transit points anymore. They are becoming specialised perishables hubs competing for cargo volumes, airline operations and logistics investment.

And much of that activity eventually connects through Miami.

The gateway where the world’s flowers arrive
Every Mother’s Day season, Miami becomes one of the busiest flower gateways in the world.

According to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, more than 1,500 tonnes of flower stems were arriving daily this year through Miami International Airport.

But once aircraft land, the work is far from over.

Shipments must still move through agricultural inspections carried out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Flowers are carefully checked for pests and plant diseases before they enter the market.

This creates another challenge for the supply chain because inspections must remain thorough while cargo continues moving quickly enough to preserve freshness.

Again, timing becomes everything.

A delay at inspection can affect retailers, distributors and customers waiting for deliveries further down the chain.

That is why coordination across the industry has become so important.

A story bigger than flowers
What makes the Mother’s Day flower rush fascinating is that it connects so many different parts of the logistics world at the same time.

Flower farms, trucking companies, cargo airlines, airports, warehouse operators, customs officials and freight forwarders all become part of one highly coordinated operation.

And despite rising pressure, the system still delivered.

Millions of flowers moved across borders, through airports and into stores around the world in time for families celebrating Mother’s Day.

For the cargo industry, that achievement represents something much bigger than seasonal demand.

It shows how modern perishables logistics has evolved into one of the most precise and carefully managed parts of global air cargo.

The flowers may only last a few days after arriving in someone’s home.

But the logistics effort behind them now represents months of planning, round-the-clock coordination and an enormous amount of invisible work carried out across the world.