From the End of March, Lufthansa Cargo Will Only Fly with eAWB

Lufthansa Cargo is taking a significant step towards completely paperless transport: Starting with the summer flight schedule on March 27, 2022, all shipments on eAWB-capable routes will only be transported with electronic air waybills (eAWB). Additionally, the airline is introducing a “Paper-to-eAWB” service, which will digitize the few remaining paper-based AWBs at the time of shipment acceptance, allowing the shipment to continue as an eAWB.

(Frankfurt/Main) In 2020, IATA announced the industry goal of achieving 100% eAWB by the end of 2022, meaning that all shipments will only be transported with electronic air waybills. To meet this goal and continue to lead the way in the digitalization of the entire air freight industry, Lufthansa Cargo is taking this step towards paperless transport.

“In recent years, we have driven many initiatives for digitalization in the air freight industry. The future avoidance of paper AWBs could even be one of the most important steps. The majority of our customers already exclusively use eAWB. With the new service, we can now easily take all customers along on our digitalization journey and enable them to transition to paperless transport as well,” explains Ashwin Bhat, Board Member for Product and Sales at Lufthansa Cargo.

“Our goal is to make communication with our customers simpler, faster, and better through our digital services. We have continuously implemented the eAWB process as an IATA industry standard since 2014 worldwide at Lufthansa Cargo. A five-year data quality initiative, which effectively resolved the data interface between customers and Lufthansa Cargo, was one of the key foundations that enabled sustainable eAWB penetration and consistent top positions in the global ranking,” says Dr. Jan-Wilhelm Breithaupt, Vice President Global Fulfillment Management at Lufthansa Cargo. “We are very pleased that we have achieved our goal of transporting paperless shipments and avoiding unnecessary printouts along the process chains together with our customers and partners.”

Mandatory for all freight forwarding companies

The newly introduced service is mandatory for all freight forwarding companies on eAWB-capable routes that have not yet used electronic air waybills. eAWB-capable routes are those where the regulatory basis for the use of electronic air waybills is established. Thus, all shippers who have not been able to use eAWB due to their own infrastructure can also switch to paperless transport. If local regulations in a country require the presentation of a paper AWB, Lufthansa Cargo will reproduce the AWB, which will accompany the shipment on the flight.

Save large amounts of paper

In addition to more efficient transport routes and faster information flows, paper will also be saved during transport. This sustainability aspect contributes to the sustainability goals of “Climate Action” and “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure” of the United Nations, which Lufthansa Cargo has committed to alongside other goals.

Photo: © Lufthansa Cargo