CAUGHT IN PAPER JAM

Despite rapid digital advancements in passenger air travel with the airline market expected to surpass $35 billion by end of this decade, the air cargo industry remains bogged down by outdated legacy systems, impeding progress in efficiency and real-time tracking. A special report by

- R. CHANDRAKANTH

Unlike the passenger segment which has seen rapid adoption of digital technologies (ticketing, check-in process, inflight entertainment, customer relationship management, and so on), the air cargo segment has been a laggard, with many operators still relying on legacy systems where usage of paper is high. This dichotomy is at a time when airline digitalisation market is estimated to earn over $35.42 billion in revenue by the end of the current decade.

Airlines are focused on enhancing the end-to-end passenger experience. The pandemic has prioritised minimising physical contact across the passenger journey. The shift to direct distribution and carriers owning the end-to-end passenger experience will increase digital investments, forecasts Frost & Sullivan. There are few airlines and cargo operators who have invested in digitalisation, however, those investments are not encouraging.

Ashok Rajan, head of cargo and logistics solutions at IBS Software who calls himself a 'freight technologist' avers that "air cargo has moved from being a poor cousin of airlines and probably the poorer cousin of digital." But the movement has been tardy.

Paper-based processes still in vogue

At the recent World Cargo Symposium of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Hong Kong, the Global Head of Cargo, IATA, Brendan Sullivan said: "Air cargo volumes are now firmly back to pre-pandemic levels. The challenge now is to ensure that air cargo growth is efficient, safe and aligned with achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Through the hard work of the air cargo industry, the building blocks are in place to significantly accelerate progress in all these areas."