These days, Lufthansa Cargo is not only going greener with its various sustainability initiatives, it is also seeing a lot of the green coming into its coffers. Reason enough to invest in further improvements to keep customers happy and thus even more cash coming in.
The Lufthansa Group’s financial results for Q3 2021 were released last Wednesday (03NOV21), and show Lufthansa Cargo raking in the cash: a record-breaking 301 million EBIT for the quarter brings
the company’s 9-month result to a total of 941 million in 2021 – more than double the 446 million for the same period last year. Ok, the cargo airline is not exactly the only one experiencing
this phenomenon. IAG Cargo also posted a 37.2% increase on its Q3 2020 result, hitting 73.4% of its 2019 levels, “despite a reduction in cargo-only flights as passenger capacity increased,
with 657 cargo-only flights operated in the quarter compared with 1,371 in quarter 2,” the financial statement discloses. And Air Canada, too, stated “record cargo revenues, surpassing the
billion-dollar mark year-to-date.” All those with air cargo capacities will no doubt be celebrating their Q3 results as capacities continue to remain tight. Whether Q3 2022 will tell a similar
story, remains to be seen.
Go digital to save time and money
Certainly, alongside its sustainability drive, Lufthansa Cargo’s digitalization strategy is also paying off. On 02NOV21, it reached another digital milestone. The airline announced that it has
expanded its partnership with IBS Software to digitalize critical handling processes for special products such as dangerous goods, pharmaceuticals, or perishables. This is all part of its “Mobile
Digital Handling” initiative aimed at eliminating paper-based operations processes carried out by Ground Handling Agent (GHA) partners and improving overall quality.
iPartner Handling solution to go global
IBS Software offers an iPartner Handling solution which will be rolled out across Lufthansa Cargo’s global GHA network in two phases, beginning with around 30 stations in Europe, Asia, and the
Americas. The first five have already kicked-off. By way of API connectivity, GHAs can seamlessly follow Lufthansa Cargo’s special checks and standard operating procedures (SoPs), feeding back
real-time data to the airline. As more stations roll out, more case studies assist in improving the IT solution and the airline’s efficiency and quality.
What the experts say
Dr. Jochen Göttelmann, Lufthansa Cargo CIO, stated: “‘Mobile Digital Handling’ is the next success story for how the combination of IBS Software’s technology leadership and Lufthansa Cargo’s
innovation capabilities contributes to shaping our industry. It was a pleasure to see how the realization of our vision went hand in hand with the development of the iPartner Handling solution.
Being the launching customer, we hope that other cargo airlines will join soon this new community solution. In joining forces we will drive the digitalization of the industry.”
Ashok Rajan, SVP & Head of Cargo & Logistics, IBS Software, concluded: “There is significant impetus in the industry to foster digitalization initiatives that enhance partnerships and
collaboration in the supply chain. The iPartner Handling solution takes us one step further towards our over-arching goal of building a digital ecosystem for our iCargo customers that can help
generate positive business outcomes for them quickly and effectively.”
Faster and better together
“Driving the digital transformation of our industry has always been an ongoing priority for us at Lufthansa Cargo. Aside from directly improving the data quality and thus making processes
more efficient, the ‘Mobile Digital Handling’ initiative also opens up tremendous opportunities for us for further innovating and improving how we work with our partners along the whole supply
chain,” Dr. Jan-Wilhelm Breithaupt, Vice President Global Fulfillment Management at Lufthansa Cargo, declared. Improving how the various stakeholders work together across the supply chain is
behind the IATA ONE Record initiative, too – minimizing errors and delays through using the same data source. IBS Software’s iPartner Handling solution has also been architected with the ONE
Record and other future industry initiatives in mind.
Brigitte Gledhill
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