Etihad Cargo reports continued growth in online sales

Etihad Cargo has seen a continued increase in the number of online bookings it has received since it launched a revamped online portal last year.

The cargo business said that in the six months since the portal’s launch, online bookings have reached 45% of all bookings made – based on April stats – and the company expects this figure to breach the 50% mark in the coming months.

India ranks first with 95.8% adoption, Etihad said, with Hong Kong and China recording 95.4% and 89.6% respectively.

“There has also been an increase in new countries, including Vietnam, using the booking portal, demonstrating the portal’s popularity across geographies,” the company said.

Etihad Cargo said that the portal offered a “streamlined booking process that requires minimal data entry” that has enabled users to create and confirm bookings within 45 seconds.

Martin Drew, senior vice president – global sales & cargo, said: “Since the launch of the new online booking portal, Etihad Cargo has added several new features that have made creating and confirming bookings easier and faster than ever before.

“The enhanced look-to-book feature and the addition of a dynamic newsfeed and personalised dashboards have created a more intuitive process, which has resulted in higher quality booking data and a reduced need for booking modifications.”

Looking ahead, the carrier is planning in the second quarter to add a function that will allow users to complete seasonal and bulk bookings.

“Later in the year, the carrier will add online booking capabilities for more products and commodities while enhancing its analytics capabilities,” Etihad said.

Damian Brett www.aircargonews.net