ACE Awards 2017: Winners for top carriers

The large carrier category also yielded a large group of strong Certificate of Excellence winners, including Qatar Airways, Emirates SkyCargo, Lufthansa and Korean Air, all earning 104-point ratings, plus Singapore Airlines with 103. Ulrich Ogiermann, head of cargo at Qatar, credited the carrier’s pioneering Pharma Express service for the high scores (especially the 107 points for Value), along with its QR Cargo mobile app for ease of customer use. “We see huge growth in pharmaceuticals globally,” he said. “We are nearing completion of our advanced airside Climate Control Center in response to growing global demand.”

Lufthansa Cargo also scored particularly well in Customer Service (107 points) after implementing several digital tools, including “smart gates,” which make handling procedures more efficient. Last year, Lufthansa Cargo also started to bring the cargo capacities of Eurowings’ long-haul flights to the market, and expanded its partnerships with ANA Cargo and Cathay Pacific Cargo, offering customers more direct connections. This year, the carrier will introduce the extra belly capacity of the Airbus A350 to its widebody fleet.

Singapore Airlines’ cargo president, Chin Yau Seng, said SIA continues to invest in training and, earlier this year, became the first airline in the Asia-Pacific region to receive the IATA CEIV-Pharma certification. “In partnership with SATS, we started using RFID tags and scanners on a trial basis for small express shipments,” he said. “We have since begun the roll-out.”

For the smaller carrier category, covering airlines that handled up to 999,999 tonnes per year, many of the same names returned, including Asiana Airlines as the Diamond Award winner, perennial favorite Southwest Airlines with the Platinum and Air Canada Cargo taking home the Gold.

Southwest’s Matt Buckley said the all-737-fleet carrier earned its 110-point Performance rating due to its dynamic scheduling model that guarantees same-day delivery of parcels in the U.S. between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. “That’s what you can do when you have 3,900 flights a day,” he said. This year, Buckley added, Southwest is gearing up for service to destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean, starting in early 2018, which should offer customers more choices for cargo.

At Air Canada Cargo, Vito Cerone, director of marketing and sales for the Americas region, said the carrier conducted a customer experience survey last year. “We used the resulting insights to form a customer journey map,” which he said helped the airline better understand where it needs to improve. “Innovation is something we take seriously,” Cerone said. “In 2016, we introduced enhancements to our e-booking and track-and-trace tools.” The carrier also introduced RFID technology in Montreal and Frankfurt.

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