Paper-less air cargo supply chain facility introduced at Bengaluru airport

Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt Ltd (AISATS), a 50:50 joint venture between Air India Limited and SATS Limited, a gateway services and food solutions provider in Asia, has introduced an e-freight initiative at its Bengaluru Airfreight Terminal facility.

With this launch, AISATS BLR has taken a step towards IATAs e-freight initiative, building a paper-free air cargo supply chain and replacing it with cheaper, accurate and reliable electronic messaging, AISATS said in a statement.

To facilitate this, AISATS has incorporated its Airport Community System (ACS), a web-based electronic platform that enables seamless electronic data interchange (EDI) between various stakeholders in the air cargo value chain. With this system in place, AISATS is well-equipped to do away with the traditional paper-based shipping data consolidation, and move towards electronic data management.

"With this online portal, freight forwarders and cargo handling agents will have complete shipment visibility and be able to send data demanded by multiple carriers, customs, and airport operators electronically through a single portal without doing duplicating data entry efforts on separate platforms," AISATS said.

The ACS will also help in creating airline booking requests and sending the same electronically to the airlines including creating and printing of Master Air Waybill, House Air Waybills and Bar Code labels. This is set to ease sending FWB / FHL messages to airlines as well as create and print customs clearance documents.

Willy Ko, CEO, AISATS, said: "Since its inception, AISATS has always been committed towards minimising impact of its operational processes on the environment. This e-freight initiative is yet another effort by AISATS and it is a big stride towards fulfilling its desire to protect the environment. Not only will this green initiative increase operational efficiency but it also help to preserve the environment by effectively reducing paperwork."