Vienna - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) today announced that IATA e-freight is now operational in Austria, with Vienna Airport being Austria’s first airport to implement the e-freight standard.

IATA e-freight is one of the Simplifying the Business projects that improve service and cut costs. It aims to take the paper out of the air cargo supply chain. Facilitated by IATA, the project is an industry-wide initiative involving carriers, freight forwarders, ground handlers, shippers and customs authorities. IATA e-freight effectively eliminates the need to send 20 core paper documents with air cargo shipments, hence streamlining processes, improving speed and reliability and cutting costs.

The e-freight implemention in Austria is truly a industry effort, with participation from the whole supply chain. The e-freight implementation team was led by Emirates Sky Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo. The team started the implementation process in April 2010 and delivered IATA e-freight on schedule. The strong support and involvement of the forwarding community and their association including DHL Global Forwarding, Kühne & Nagel and Schenker, as well as the Bundesministerium für Finanzen (BMF) and the local customs authorities contributed to the success of the e-freight implementation. Austria is the 28th e-freight location worldwide to deliver paper-free cargo.

With e-freight implemented in Austria, there will be time savings for the transportation and availability of goods by up to 24 hours due to the electronic clearance and paper free process. E-freight will also bring similar benefits to other airports in Austria. IATA aims to build on the success at Vienna Airport to implement e-freight in more airports in Austria, starting with Salzburg and Linz.

IATA’s target is to implement e-freight in 44 countries by the end of 2010, representing more than 80% of global air-freight volumes. These countries need to have the appropriate international treaties and customs framework in place in order to be able to implement e-freight.

IATA e-freight is also operational in Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Denmark, Dubai, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.

For more information, please contact:

Corporate Communications
Tel: +41 22 770 2967
Email: corpcomms@iata.org

 

Notes for Editors:

  • IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 230 airlines comprising 93% of scheduled international air traffic.