Determining smart technology use in air cargo charter bookings

Thanks to the influx of venture capital making its way into logistics in 2019, new platforms allow for everything from basic track-and-trace of air cargo shipments to direct ebooking. However, complex air cargo charters may need to combine new and old technologies to operate most efficiently, Dan Morgan-Evans, group cargo director at Air Charter Service (ACS), told Air Cargo World.

“There are so many different facets to a charter, it’s not as simple as pressing a couple of buttons and something spewing out the other end. If that was the case, everybody would do this and they don’t, and everybody could be as successful as each other but they aren’t,” Morgan-Evans said. “Technology for technology’s sake is not the answer to everything.”

ACS does have its own bespoke booking system database of aircraft and airlines, but Morgan-Evers clarified that the technology is solely for in-house use and that “the customers will only see that in the speed that we react, as opposed to actually having their hands on our technology.” Instead, ACS is focused on growing its global footprint, opening or expanding physical offices in Madrid, Sao Paulo, and California.

“We still like to use telephones here, there’s the traditional side of us,” Morgan-Evers explained. Having offices across time zones and continents is important, he added, because, “I like our brokers to be at the end of the phone, and if the customer calls, they should pick up the phone immediately and be there to answer any questions.”