American Airlines Cargo Division (AA Cargo) is participating in the U.S. launch of an air cargo industry e-freight initiative which supports a move toward paperless documentation.  The initiative is facilitated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

IATA’s e-freight effectively eliminates the need to send 12 paper documents with air cargo shipments, which streamlines processes, improves speed and reliability, and cuts costs. IATA represents 230 airlines comprising 93 percent of international scheduled air traffic.

The first use of the new system began on American flights between New York John F. Kennedy and London Heathrow airports. Further expansion into other routes is planned, and will be launched at additional major U.S. airports.

IATA’s e-freight program is one of five Simplifying the Business projects being led by IATA to improve service and cut costs. Previous projects have included 100 percent electronic ticketing and RFID for baggage management. E-freight requires that business, technical and legal frameworks be in place to allow airlines, freight forwarders, customs administrations, and governments to seamlessly exchange electronic information and e-documents instead of paper.  In addition, the effort supports the environment by reducing paper-based waste.

“The U.S. launch of the e-freight initiative brings us one step closer to a completely paperless environment,” said Dave Brooks, President - AA Cargo. “The improvement in data quality and timeliness of information will increase the speed of our interactions, yielding more efficient commerce for all of us in the air cargo industry.”

Over the past year IATA has assessed the readiness of 209 locations worldwide in addition to the original six e-freight sites. It found that 46 countries, representing 63 percent of global air-freight volumes, have the appropriate international treaties and high level customs framework in place to qualify for IATA e-freight. The United States becomes the ninth e-freight location worldwide to deliver paper-free cargo.

Other participants in the U.S. launch include British Airways, KLM, United Airlines, DHL, and Kuehne+Nagel. IATA e-freight is also operational in Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The industry has set the end of 2010 as a deadline for the implementation of e-freight where feasible.