Sharing data can reduce airport congestion

While airport leaders generally believe transparency between operators is key to eliminating airport congestion, the means to accomplish this are up for debate. Airport congestion is a symptom of outdated infrastructure and lagging technology, as well as poor transparency, Donna Mullins , vice president at Kale Logistics Solutions , said during a panel at Air Cargo Conference 2024 on Feb. 13. [caption id="attachment_63114" align="alignright" width="300"] (Courtesy/Seattle-Tacoma International Airport)[/caption] “The role of the airport is probably as undefined as a cargo community system ,” she said. “Because it really depends on the airport and what they’re allowed to do. Some airports are landlords. And some airports are regulated by port authorities that give them the ability to mandate certain things and adopt certain things.” A cargo community system (CCS) is an open platform that allows stakeholders to share and optimize data and operations within an airport. Kale is one of the largest providers of CCSs around the globe. Attracting business and data sharing CCSs can be used to attract new customers, including carriers and forwarders, to an airport. However, transparency may take some convincing for stakeholders, said Patrick Haley , air cargo facilities manager at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). “Certain carriers are not going to want to tell and allow other carriers to know what they’re moving, whether it’s by what they can see at the same time or when the air waybill is transferred through,” he said. Additionally, an airport authority cannot legally tell a carrier or forwarder to use a CCS, Haley said. Mullins argued that carriers and forwarders must be convinced that digital corridors set up through a CCS could protect their shipments while still providing the airport with operational transparency, thereby reducing congestion . “The carriers do not have to share their information with [other] carriers on a cargo community system any more than they do now,” she said. “What they share is the ability for their customers to be able to make reservations to come pick up cargo or to be able to do electronic communications with them. And in an airport community system, there are siloed different types of applications that” keep the information private from competitors. Shared responsibility Cristina Toscano , sales manager for the Americas at Nallian , a technology company specializing in data sharing in the air cargo industry , said data sharing is similar to social media settings. “You’re not talking about personal data, you’re talking about data that is related to cargo,” Toscano said. “And you have to decide [which] parties need to see that data and then need to be informed.” Essentially, if the carriers, forwarders and brokers are players in the symphony, the airport is a conductor and must set the tempo. While the airport sees the whole picture, the airport’s customers can remain competitive while reducing wait times and increasing efficiency, Toscano said. The biggest benefit is that it gets different operators talking to one another , which is how problems are solved, Mullins said. “A lot of times when these airport community systems or cargo community systems are starting to be established, it does something that we don’t always like,” Mullins said. “It forces us to talk to each other, it forces us to get in the room together, whether A and B don’t like each other or not. “It really does bring the community together,” she said. Register here for Air Cargo Next’ s free webinar, “The Role of Drones in the Future of Air Cargo,” on Tuesday, March 26, at 11 a.m. ET.

Sharing data can reduce airport congestion

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