Lufthansa Cargo champions digitalisation development

Digitalisation and automation will increasingly be used to drive differentiation in the air cargo market.

Looking at the topic of airfreight trends in 2023, Lufthansa Cargo said digitalisation will continue at an accelerated pace.

“Networking through the intelligent use of data and the increasing automation of processes will become performance and competitive factors for the industry,” said Lufthansa Cargo.

Digitalisation will remain an important factor in industry collaboration and partnerships, pointed out Dorothea von Boxberg, chairman of the executive board and chief executive of Lufthansa Cargo.

“Even before the pandemic, topics like digitalisation and AI were important. In air freight, there are still many opportunities to use data to add value and interact with partners in real time.

“The industry is characterized by the fact that we collaborate very strongly across the board. One example of this is the nationwide research project ‘Digitales Testfeld Air Cargo’ of the German Federal Ministry of Transport (BMVI), which is coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML).

“We are pleased to be working as a project partner to help position Germany as an air cargo location for international competition in the future.”

Aircraft sustainability will continue to be an important topic with fleet modernisation and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) development part of the agenda. Smaller measures such as loading equipment optimisation and recycling are also important, stressed von Boxberg.

There does need to be careful regulation with SAF though, she said.

“However, it is also important that regulations on quotas of sustainable fuels (Sustainable Aviation Fuels) are designed to ensure fair competitive conditions.”

2023 will be about driving forward industry development measures already underway, she emphasised.

Looking on the bright side of a market with decreased demand and increased capacity, Lufthansa Cargo expects congestion in supply chains will be eased by increased capacity brought by returning belly capacity and the opening up of the Asian market.