Airline association IATA has added a ‘quote and book’ function to its rate portal, with IAG Cargo the first cargo group to offer the new functionality.

The addition of live rates and the option to book shipments onto IATA's Net Rates platform will accelerate “the distribution of rates to market while simplifying and reducing the cost of rate handling procedures”.

The solution supports loose cargo and ULD pricing, general, express and perishable shipments, as well as allocations and block space agreements.

Frederic Leger, interim senior vice president for commercial products and services, IATA, and president, CNS, said: “The pandemic has accelerated the appetite for digitalization across the air cargo industry.

“IATA Net Rates new ‘quote and book’ function simplifies and accelerates the rate distribution and booking process between airlines and freight forwarders, saving valuable time by eliminating manual, labor-intensive processes.

“We are pleased to expand our Net Rates partnership with IAG Cargo to support their efficient cargo rates distribution and booking capabilities, across the different airlines of the group.”

John Cheetham, chief commercial officer at IAG Cargo, added: “We’re delighted that IATA Net Rates has added a quote and book function. It’s great news for freight forwarders.

“We’re seeing customers globally increasingly wanting more choice and flexibility to book their freight across our network. This expansion comes at an apt time for IAG Cargo as capacity on the network increases.”

The ‘quote and book’ function is initially available to freight forwarders booking IAG Cargo capacity from Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, US and Vietnam, and will expand to additional markets over the coming weeks.

IATA is the latest in a series of companies to add online live rate and booking services to the air cargo market over recent years.

Speaking to Air Cargo News recently, Zvi Schreiber, chief executive portal WebCargo's parent, Freightos, said that the main differentiator between the different platforms is the level of coverage they are able to offer.

Schreiber said that WebCargo is currently the market leader with more than 30% of total market capacity available on the platform.

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