(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar Airways is now among the 'top 10 airlines in the world in terms of penetration of the e-Air Waybill (e-AWB), which according to IATA is the 'most important transportation document in air cargo operations.
'As an airline, Qatar Airways achieved more than 73% penetration in terms of e-AWB as of October this year, which is very rapid, impressive, said Glyn Hughes, IATA global head of cargo.
Qatar Airways 'invested heavily in technology to get on to e-AWB, Hughes said in an interview with Gulf Times at the International Air Transport Association's global office in Geneva.
'A couple of years ago, Qatar Airways took a decision to fully embrace e-AWB. So they looked at all the systems they had in place and they realised some of them need to be updated. So they have invested heavily in technology. They did not look at it as a technical solution, but as a customer solution, something, which we have encouraged. By taking information from paper to digital, they can now provide a better product to customers, Hughes said.
Hughes pointed out that in the last one year Qatar Airways has 'really, dramatically, accelerated in terms of e-AWB penetration.
'This is because they have looked at it from a corporate perspective. They have actually seen the operational and customer service benefits from them, the senior IATA official said.
Speaking about the benefits of the e-AWB project, Hughes said, 'It brings about accuracy, confidentiality, and efficiency.
Developed collaboratively with industry stakeholders, e-AWB removes the requirement for a paper Air Waybill (AWB).
The 'eAWB360 initiative was launched to accelerate e-AWB penetration and increase adoption of e-AWB at the top 50 e-Airports in the world. The new eAWBLink tool will help small and medium-sized freight forwarders to become e-AWB-capable and join the e-cargo community.
'In today's electronic world, air cargo still relies heavily on paper documentation for the exchange of information. Each international airfreight shipment can require more than 30 different paper documents, IATA said.
In another report released on the sidelines of the IATA Global Media event here, the global body of airlines said the Middle Eastern carriers saw air freight demand increase by 9.2% in October 2016 year-on-year, marking an improvement over the last few months' performance. 'However seasonally-adjusted growth has slowed, predominantly due to weak freight volumes between the Middle East and Asia, and the Middle East and North America. Capacity in the region increased by 4.2%, IATA said.
The demand, measured in freight tonne kilometres (FTKs), rose 8.2% year-on-year in October. This was the 'fastest pace of growth seen in 18 months. Freight capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs), increased 3.6% over the same period.
Alexandre de Juniac, IATA director general and CEO said, "Global air freight markets look set to end 2016 on a high note. Demand is growing at its fastest pace in 18 months. It remains to be seen how long this growth trend will endure after the year-end peak period and we still face headwinds from weak global trade. But there are some encouraging signs. The peak has been stronger than expected. And purchasing managers are reporting a pick-up in new export orders. So we will enter 2017 propelled by some much-needed positive momentum."
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