Digitalisation of business is now high on
many an airline’s agenda
GSSA
UPDATE
capture and accounting.
“Some clients look for a total
cargo management solution,”
he remarks.
The capacity selling part
accounts for about 60% of
ALG’s business today, with the
remainder coming from other
services. In some cases, selling
may not even be part of the
engagement with an airline,
Dawkins reveals.
“Outsourcing is the future
of the airline business,” he
adds.
The outsourcing conundrum
Interest in this development
shows some regional variation,
believes Jens Tubbesing, CEO
of Airline Network Services. “In
some parts of the world they
outsource everything. Legacy
carriers traditionally don’t want
everything outsourced.”
According to Dawkins,
GSSAs are under the gun to
broaden their offerings. “This
is no longer a business of 3%
commission on 80 cents. You
have to diversify,” he states.
However, airlines are not
always inclined to pay more
Interestingly, GSSAs do not
feel pushed into this against
their will by their clients,
but actually welcome this
development. Rather than
commoditise their service,
they fi nd that digitalisation is
actually benefi cial to them.
“Online doesn’t crimp our
freedom. It’s the opposite. It
gives us quicker, more reliable
communication to customers,”
comments Gilfeather.
Lawrence adds that he would
be delighted if forwarders were
to handle bookings and quotes
online, but interest is not high
there, he notes.
Gaps persist
Michelle Lawrence, ASI’s
Director of Marketing, remarks
that too often there are gaps
between airline programmes
and their implementation. An
airline may have embraced the
e-air waybill but the warehouse
may not accept a shipment if
it is not accompanied with a
paper document.
However, there appears
to be a better alignment
when it comes to the pursuit
of higher yielding types of
cargo, which most airlines
have come to embrace as their
most promising way forward,
especially in the light of the
recent yield decline. Zimmer
points to industry statistics
which indicate that tonnages
fell earlier this year by around
9-12%, whereas yield dropped
20 percentage points and
more, depending on the
region.
GSSAs are fully on
board in the quest for more
pharmaceuticals and other
commodities that promise
juicier yields. “We focus
on premium products
because yields are so low.
General cargo generates very
for additional services. Some
argue that an extra service
element is part of the basic
service. This is the view of Joe
Lawrence, President of Airline
Services International. “We’ve
walked away from contracts
because some want choices but
don’t want to pay for them,”
he says.
For its part, Air Logistics
Group has been focusing
heavily on data capture.
“Bookings now come in many
different ways. You have to
make sure your organisation
is positioned to deal with all
of these,” says Dawkins. “The
airline wants to know what’s
on board before the plane
leaves,” he adds.
“Data collection is core,”
agrees Zimmer. “It’s more
transparent and you can
handle more shipments.”
This is reinforced by the
intensifying push from the
airline side to digitalise the
business and move elements
like booking and rate enquiries
on-line. “Everybody is working
on digitalisation,” confi rms
Zimmer.
About 95%
of contracts
are commission
based
Stephen Dawkins, CEO, Air Logistics
Group
44 June 2019 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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