IATA e-freight adds South Korea to its list of live locations
On August 1 South Korea became IATA e-freight’s latest live location. South Korea was the first location to go live in 2008, and joins Canada, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden and the UK as early adopters of IATA e-freight.
Led by Korea Customs Service, Korean Air Cargo and Asiana Cargo, IATA e-freight has been launched on two trade lanes: between South Korea and Singapore and South Korea and Hong Kong, with further expansion to other routes planned.
Also involved in the implementation in South Korea are Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, DHL Global Forwarding, Pantos Logistics, Hanaro Technology Network System (HTNS), MCI Global Logistics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Logitech.
Other stakeholders, including Air France KLM, Air Canada, Emirates and Cosmo Airfreight Consolidators (CAC) are part of the South Korea e-freight group and will soon start operations from Seoul’s Incheon airport.
Another seven live locations are planned by the end of 2008, as IATA e-freight gathers momentum around the world. By replacing 13 paper documents with electronic messages, the project reduces the amount of paper required for international air shipments by an estimated 50-60%. IATA e-freight promises to save the industry US$ 1.2 billion every year through faster, more efficient, and more accurate exchange of electronic data.
More information about the IATA e-freight project is available here.
Israel passes first IATA e-freight assessment
Israel moved one step closer to becoming an IATA e-freight location this month, passing the High Level Assessment (HLA).
To pass the HLA four criteria must be met:
- Is the location an IATA freight country?
- Has either the MC99 or MP4 been ratified?
- Has the WCO (World Customs Organisation) letter of intent been signed?
- Is there an e-customs modernisation programme in place that would enable IATA e-freight implementation by end 2010?
The next step is a Detailed Level Assessment (DLA), which will begin in September. El Al has confirmed that it will lead the DLA exercise. More information on the IATA e-freight assessment process is available here.
Losing baggage? BIP has solutions
Lost baggage is a US$ 3.8 billion problem for the industry – each year. It’s also a big issue for customers – mishandled baggage is among the top five concerns for travellers according the most recent IATA Corporate Air Travel Survey (CATS).
StB’s Baggage Improvement Programme – BIP for short – has a solutions toolkit that addresses all causes of baggage mishandling. This year BIP will target six airlines and airports to validate and test these solutions before rolling them out to the entire industry. The solutions toolkit has already been tested four times – during diagnosis sessions with LAN Chile in Santiago, Emirates in Dubai, Delta in Seattle and Lufthansa in Chicago.
Kenya Airways and Air One join the Fast Travel Programme
StB is pleased to welcome Kenya Airways and Air One as participants in Fast Travel pilots. The Fast Travel Programme, approved by the IATA Board in December 2007, responds to passengers’ increasing demands for more self service options during their journey through the airport. The programme is currently conducting pilots in six areas:
- Mobile check-in
- Bags ready-to-go (bag tagging and bag drop)
- Document scanning
- Flight re-booking (for example, IRROPS)
- Self-boarding
- Bag recovery (lost bag registration)
Kenya Airways will work with IATA in the areas of mobile check-in and bags ready-to-go, while Air One will pilot mobile check-in. More information about Fast Travel is available on IATA’s Fast Travel homepage.
Changes to ET information available from IATA
Since the ET project is now complete, IATA is migrating information concerning electronic ticketing deployment from the StB website to a new website owned by the IATA Passenger Services department. The StB homepage however will provide a link to the new site. This migration will take place on September 30. Any questions on ET or IET can continue to be sent to eticket@iata.org.
All airline ET data files currently located on the StB Extranet will be deleted on September 30. Airlines who wish to preserve their data are requested to access their airline extranet site and download any required files prior to this date.
The last IET report: Hahn Air captures IET gold
As a reminder, the ET Matchmaker and RIETA (Reduced Interline Electronic Ticketing Agreements) will be shut down on August 29. Therefore the last Top 50 IET report that will be produced is available here. Congratulations to Hahn Air for topping the list at 151 IETs, and to all airlines who have worked so hard to implement IET agreements with such speed in the last three months. If you have any further questions about IET, please email eticket@iata.org.
IATA Air Transport IT Symposium, October 13-15, Las Vegas
This year’s IATA Air Transport IT Symposium will present an unparalleled opportunity to receive important updates on industry initiatives, project results and new solutions from some of the most respected industry bodies and experts. Don't miss the Symposium’s special stream on StB. For more information visit the event`s webpage.
To benefit from an exclusive discount of 50%, please register by September 15th and quote discount code: stb01.
Looking forward to seeing you in Las Vegas!
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