Hardware and software in azure skies
ITA Airways in partnerships with Jettainer, Webcargo, Cargo One. After the Lufthansa Group’s investment in ITA Airways, announced in May, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Jettainer, wholly-owned by Lufthansa Cargo, has been asked to continue with the cargo equipment management for the Italian flag carrier. As for the data handling, ITA Airways Cargo has reported cooperation agreements with two partners.
Jettainer is set to continue supporting ITA Airways, providing the successor to Alitalia with a fleet of around 4,000 air cargo containers and pallets. Managing this cargo transport equipment is supported by IT solutions and a team of supervisors. The service thus promises transparency in the field of ULD deployment and the highest possible utilisation rates, including avoiding (empty) positioning flights, reduced costs and lower CO2 emissions.
The airline serves a growing network of destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North, Central and South America, through its hubs at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate. “Jettainer provides us with the reliability we expect and need to deliver our services,” Francesco Presicce, ITA Airways’ CTO and ‘accountable manager’, said. At the same time, Jettainer’s “innovative management systems contribute to the efficient and cost-effective operation of our airline,” he added.
Increasing online and offline visibility
Meanwhile, the SkyTeam Cargo member has joined Wisetech’s ‘Global Carrier Connectivity’ programme. The scheme was designed to enable freight forwarders to efficiently plan, book, confirm and manage shipments flown by the air transport service provider in real time, using the Australian logistics IT provider’s ‘Cargowise’ booking platform.
The direct data connections to the freight management platform established by an API – ITA Airways Cargo has chosen ‘Cargospot’ from Champ Cargosystems for this purpose – provides access to offers from 24 of the 25 largest freight forwarders worldwide.
ITA Airways’ chief commercial officer Emiliana Limosani pointed out that “our growing presence on online cargo booking portals is another important pillar of our overall business development strategy for the future.”
ITA’s online presence was launched with Cargo One in October last year (see also page 13 of our Italy Special supplement in ITJ 47-48 / 2022). On 19 October, in turn, freight forwarders based in the greater Milan area were invited to a customer information event, where they were presented with the details and advantages of the system.