More data scientists needed for increasingly digital industry

LIMA, Peru — As the air cargo industry becomes more digital, it will need more data scientists to help companies translate knowledge hidden in data and use it to develop a strategy. “Relying on data has become the only anchor that we have,” Swissport Chief Commercial Officer Guillaume Halleux said March 10 during a panel at the IATA World Cargo Symposium. [caption id="attachment_57295873" align="aligncenter" width="1559"] Guillaume Halleux, chief commercial officer of Swissport, right, speaking on a panel moderated by Marco Bloemen, managing director of Aevean, left, at IATA World Cargo Symposium 2026. (Courtesy/IATA)[/caption] Harnessing AI could help the industry gather data more quickly and efficiently, but the challenge lies in transforming the data into actionable insights. “How do you make the numbers say something [when the data is compiled]?” Halleux asked. “I like to be provocative with my teams at Swissport. I tell them to stop producing data for the sake of giving me tables. What do I do with that? Make it actionable. Make these numbers tell me a story.” — Guillaume Halleux, Chief Commercial Officer, Swissport As useful as they are, it would be a mistake to rely entirely on AI tools, Halleux said. “They give you a massive amount of data in record time,” he said. “You still have to do your work. You still have to analyze, because the machine is not perfect.” “I like to be provocative with my teams at Swissport,” he said. “I tell them to stop producing data for the sake of giving me tables. What do I do with that? Make it actionable. Make these numbers tell me a story.”Formulating a strategy with AI for passenger operations is simpler than air cargo, because “the passenger is a passenger, the seat is a seat; there’s no volume, no overhang, no density,” Halleux said. Data collected from passenger operations is more accurate because there are usually no documentation or customs issues, only minor challenges with immigration, he added. ONE Record IATA developed its ONE Record data-sharing platform to create a single, real-time view of all the data related to one shipment for all of the stakeholders. ONE Record became the preferred method of data exchange on Jan. 1. Seventy percent of all operators, along with technology firms, freight forwarders and supply chain companies, are incorporating ONE Record into their infrastructure to simplify daily operations, IATA Global Head of Cargo Brendan Sullivan said during the conference. “Global standards are essential for us to move cargo effectively across borders,” he said. “That’s how we do it in a harmonized fashion. And when we don’t have them implemented in a harmonized way, ultimately it just creates duplication and risk.” At the symposium, IATA also launched the Air Cargo AI Excellence Hub, a platform to accelerate safe and practical adoption of AI across the air cargo ecosystem, and the AI Subject Matter Expert, a web-based tool that provides answers on cargo and safety standards within seconds. Cargo Facts will present four invaluable events for airfreight professionals in 2026, the next of which is <a class="Hyperlink SCXW113043295 BCX0" style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://cargofactsevents.com/asia/?utm_campaign=22235567-CF%20Asia%202026&utm_source=Editorial&utm_medium=article%20event%20footer&utm_term=CF%20website&utm_content=Learn%20More&utm_source=Weekly+Update+-+Cargo+Facts&utm_campaign=fbe548904b-CF+Update_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_621baa6827-fbe548904b-40083601&mc_cid=fbe548904b&mc_eid=adbe8bb0b4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> Cargo Facts Asia on March 23-25. To see the agendas and register for the events, visit CargoFactsEvents.com .

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