Cargo Chat: American Airlines’ Tyler on modernization

There has been an acceleration of industry investments in technology from cargo operators during the past year to improve visibility of cargo supply chains and system processes, encouraging an era of modernization in an industry typically regarded as behind the times. Among these operators is American Airlines, a carrier utilizing digitalization as a key component for improving its cargo capabilities not just in terms of connectivity, but also for specialized, temperature-sensitive cargo. [caption id="attachment_97159" align="alignright" width="450"] Jessica Tyler, President Cargo and Vice President Operations Innovation & Delivery, American Airlines (Photo: American Airlines)[/caption] Air Cargo World spoke with Jessica Tyler, president of cargo and vice president of operations, innovation and delivery at American Airlines, about industry modernization and digitalization, and how the airline is improving cargo communication and integrity within its own operations. Since the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020, American Airlines has continued to adapt its crisis management response. The carrier implemented its most recent, modernized platform a year ago, recently surpassed 10,000 cargo-only flights, and continues to invest in new and innovative solutions for its growing cold-chain operations. Air Cargo World : You’ve been with American Airlines since 2012, so it’s imaginable that a lot of things have changed since then, especially with the pandemic. What areas of cargo do you hope to improve or address? Jessica Tyler : We’re on a modernization journey. We just surpassed our two-year anniversary of basically doing a total body transplant [on our system]. We pulled out around 90 systems that ran our business, some of which were 40 years old, and replaced them with the incredible cargo system that IBS Software has. We have a huge, new, modern operating system that runs our entire business from the commercial end, from bookings all the way to the operational pieces that are kind of the shipment journey itself, to issue resolution, account invoicing and everything on the other side. When you’re going from a 40-year-old technology to a new modern platform, not only do you have to adjust the way you work, but you have to completely reinvent the way you work. We now have all this incredible integrated data, so the next phase, to me, is how do you integrate with the people you serve and that serve you? The next frontier for us at American is to really look at the end-to-end management of better and more accurate data, and then use that data for better insights that continually evolve our business in partnership with customers and vendors, like our ground handlers, across the world. ACW : What other digitalization goals do you hope to achieve? JT : Another area that we’re really excited about is Direct Connect. We are working on this with one of our largest customers, Kuehne+Nagel, and they’re able to book through their system directly into our system, and that is super exciting for us. It makes the data capture and accuracy stronger so that we are able to deliver on our promise to them more consistently. When I think about our partnerships with other airlines, this helps us in our ability to say yes to our customers and be creative in how we solve a customer’s challenges. The more you’re connected — with a broad network and technology connections — the easier it is to say yes. ACW : What general trends do you see in the North America region, and how is AA Cargo utilizing airfreight to respond to these regional trends? JT: In North America we have a real opportunity to leverage both widebody and narrowbody aircraft to serve really quick delivery, time sensitive, and temperature sensitive areas — those are the trends we’re seeing. The temperature-controlled industry has seen double digit growth just from pre-pandemic levels, and the focus on the high value, time-sensitive shipments is just going to grow. ACW : You have a significant cool chain footprint in the U.S. Are there any plans to further develop cool-chain operations, whether through additional facilities or certifications? JT : We’re continuing with our CEIV certification process, which is an IATA-supported process for excellence in pharmaceutical handling. To me, that’s a really important part of our ability to grow and meet customer expectations. We’ve got certification in Dallas (DFW) and Philadelphia (PHL) already, and we’re moving on to more stations to come. Part of that is to make sure that you have the infrastructure right in place across all those dots on the map, so investments in particular cooler solutions, making sure that we have the connections to the right containers is crucial. There’s a lot of existing cold-chain container products out there as well as some really innovative things that are coming down the road. At all our facilities, were mapping the current state of our capabilities and where we need investment. We have some new coolers going in for 2022, and we’ll continue to make sure that we have a very robust solution for our customers in this space going forward.

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