WebCargo Introduces Interline Option for Airlines on Its Booking Portal

Carriers will now be able to offer the services of their interline partners on the WebCargo by Freightos airfreight booking portal.

Freightos said a test shipment had been carried out by Qatar Airways Cargo on an ITA Airways flight.

The booking platform pointed out that in the passenger travel industry around 10% of all itineraries contain code-sharing.

Freightos said the interlining in air cargo is underused as the process is manual and can take 24-48 hours to complete.

“With digital interlining, airlines can improve capacity utilisation, broaden global coverage, and create new business opportunities.”

WebCargo by Freightos chief executive Manel Galindo said: “Waiting two days to price and book cargo that can circle the globe in under a day simply does not work.

“This new functionality brought together two carriers with no recent record of interlining together, which demonstrates the power of the new product.”

Interline e-booking on WebCargo are also available to airlines that are not yet offering e-bookings on WebCargo.

WebCargo senior business development manager for interline and charter Toby Hillier explained to Air Cargo News that airlines can sign up to the interline platform as buyers, sellers, or both, whether or not they are one of the more than 40 airlines already on WebCargo.

“If they sign up as a buyer, no integrations are required – they can simply and easily book capacity from seller airlines as easily as our thousands of forwarders already do.

“Airlines planning to sell capacity will indeed need to go through the API integration phase but also have the option to only sell capacity to other airlines if they do not wish to use the platform to sell to freight forwarders. The platform has been designed to provide airline users with complete flexibility to use it as per their needs.”

Hillier added that he expected more carriers to adopt interlining through the platform over the summer and added that further functions were being developed.

“We are engaging with all of our airline partners about using the WebCargo interline platform to both buy and sell their interline capacity on timescales that work for them.

“E-booking itself only started a few years back and we’ve been quite impressed with the speed with which airlines have been adopting new tech. Some airlines are planning to join our interlining offering this Summer, with many others down the line.

“The platform will deliver real-time solutions for airlines and their customers, as well as simplifying the quoting, booking and tracking processes, so we hope that all of our airline partners, new and old, embrace the opportunity to enhance their interline function with us. We will also be working with our users to add new functionality and continue to simplify cargo interline.”

One of the carriers involved in the first test shipment, Qatar Airways Cargo, said it was impressed by the new development.

Vice president cargo customer experience Faisal Karamat said: “This platform provides us access to additional routes that further enhance our global coverage and enable the teams to book it instantly. It has been designed with a user experience mindset hence allowing for increased efficiency and speed which is crucial for air cargo.”

In addition to ITA Airways and Qatar Airways Cargo, IAG Cargo played a crucial role as a design partner.