Qatar Airways has been listed among the top 10 airlines in the world when it comes to penetration of the e-Air Waybill (e-AWB) – one of the most important transportation document in air cargo operations according to IATA.
The Global Head of IATA cargo, Glyn Hughes, explained that Qatar Airways has achieved more than 73 per cent penetration in terms of e-AWB as of October this year, which is very fast and impressive, as reported by Gulf Times.
He further noted that Qatar Airways took a decision few years back, to fully embrace e-AWB. As a result, the airline company invested heavily in technology. By taking information from paper to digital, it now provides a better product to customers.
Moreover, Qatar Airways has accelerated dramatically in terms of e-AWB penetration, cited Hughes.
As such, the e-AWB has been developed collaboratively with industry stakeholders and removes the requirement for a paper Air Waybill (AWB).
IATA in a statement highlighted that even today, 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.
In another IATA report, the global body of airlines said the Middle Eastern carriers saw air freight demand increase by 9.2 per cent in October 2016 year-on-year, marking an improvement over the last few months’ performance.
The year-on-year demand, which is measured in freight tonnekilometres (FTKs), increased by 8.2 per cent in October- making it the fastest pace of growth seen in 18 months. Freight capacity, measured in available freight tonnekilometres (AFTKs), also increased 3.6 per cent over the same period.
Alexandre de Juniac, the IATA director general and CEO highlighted that by the end of 2016, global air freight markets will be making good results, although t remains to be seen how long this growth trend will endure after the year-end peak period.
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