Air cargo is a complex business involving a massive supply chain that stretches all across the globe. The ecosystem is divided in a very granular manner, with the airline itself handling a very small portion of the cargo movement and the rest being handled by partners which are far from seamless in their connection to the chain. Between the shipper and the receiver, every package passes through several hands with varying degrees of manual and automated operation. In the absence of full digitization, the excessive number of non-standardized intermediaries in the network form weak links on the c...

Nothing moves fast in the airline industry…well, except the aircraft! It is no longer a game of big fish and small fish, especially since we see startup companies bringing down established Goliaths almost every single day and in every single industry. Today, it is the fast fish that defeats the slow fish. The key is innovation, and the stakes are at an all-time high!  A striking symptom of lethargy  Airline job ads of today are quite humorous if you pay enough attention to them. On one side, they promise you the chance to play with the latest toys, new generation technology products ...

The simplest answer to this question is that few airlines currently have the technology capability to do so. By nature, the airline industry demands very complex functions and extremely high reliability from Passenger Service System (PSS) platforms. Managing various price points across a fare ladder and forecasting demand for these price points makes the system even more complicated. Dynamic pricing systems must provide for an infinite set of conditions and contexts – whether these may apply in practice or not. The price may end up being any value at all, but these are calculated in real time ...

Despite registering a growth of over 90% over the past decade as per World Bank statistics, certain structural deficiencies - slim margins, low yields and low predictability - have held back the air cargo industry from fully capitalizing on the heavy demand for freight movement. High impact, sustainable solutions are essential and the signals are strong for a digital future. The IBS Cargo Forum, which recently concluded in Abu Dhabi, focused on the digital evolution of the air cargo industry landscape, and how the iCargo platform stands to generate tremendous value for the astute customer. &nb...

Airline companies have traditionally employed flexible pricing concepts in very creative ways to offset the risks associated with unsold inventory and overbooking. But it would be plain wrong to call it "dynamic pricing" in the truest sense. A big part of the problem is that airline companies just don't have sufficient control over the pricing process. How are airfares typically calculated? In the traditional model, airline companies publish their schedules (via intermediaries) to the GDS and file their fares with the Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCo). When a passenger or a travel agen...