E-booking platforms: Driving digital change in air cargo

E-booking platforms are transforming air cargo by replacing time-consuming calls and emails with instant bookings, real-time capacity updates, and automated workflows.
In an industry long characterised by manual processes and paperwork, digital transformation has been steadily reshaping air cargo operations. At the forefront of this revolution are e-booking platforms, which have emerged as critical tools for streamlining cargo bookings, enhancing operational efficiency, and improving transparency across the entire supply chain. These digital marketplaces have become essential strategic assets for freight forwarders, airlines, and shippers navigating the complexities of global logistics.

The digital revolution in air cargo
The air cargo industry has traditionally lagged behind other sectors in digital adoption. For decades, booking air freight space involved multiple phone calls, emails, and faxes, a time-consuming process prone to errors and inefficiencies.

The Covid-19 pandemic served as a catalyst for change, accelerating the industry's digital transformation as stakeholders sought more resilient and flexible solutions amid unprecedented disruptions.

Today, against the backdrop of a robust and expanding air cargo market, e-booking platforms represent the cornerstone of digital evolution. According to IATA's recent data, cargo revenues are expected to reach $157 billion (15.6% of total revenues) in 2025. Its latest data for January 2025 highlights sustained growth in the global air cargo market, with total demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTK), rising by 3.2% year-on-year, marking the 18th consecutive month of expansion. Meanwhile, available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTK) increased by 6.8%, indicating a notable rise in capacity.

These e-booking platforms provide real-time capacity availability, instant booking confirmations, dynamic pricing, and seamless documentation management, capabilities that were barely imaginable in the not-so-distant past. The efficiency gains from these digital workflows have transformed what was once a labor-intensive process into a streamlined, data-driven operation.

Core benefits of e-booking platforms
The value proposition of air cargo e-booking platforms extends far beyond the convenience of online transactions. By automating the booking process, these platforms eliminate redundant tasks and reduce the manual effort required from both carriers and forwarders.

“In our 17 years of existence, we’ve seen enormous changes in how the industry players manage their business. At the start, it was rate sheets in binders and less-than-professional quotes over the phone or email that had no interconnectivity back to core systems. Slowly but surely, that’s been changing to a fully digital process,” says Wayne Tyndall, Senior VP Commercial - Freight Forwarders and Airlines, Freightos, a leading global freight booking and payment platform for international freight.

However, he adds, “This will, by the way, never go fully digital.” He further explains, “It’s a game-changer across the board: carriers gain more customers through widened distribution channels, forwarders spend less time on paperwork and more time adding value, and shippers receive faster, more competitive quotes with better pricing and shipment transparency. The industry is finally moving away from the manual grind and toward a smarter, more connected way of working.”

Key players in the e-booking ecosystem
The e-booking landscape features several distinctive platforms, each with unique approaches and value propositions. Understanding their differences is crucial for stakeholders seeking the right digital partner for their specific needs.

cargo.one: The digital marketplace enabler
Founded in 2017, cargo.one has established itself as a leading marketplace connecting freight forwarders with airline capacity. Explaining cargo.one’s impact, Moritz Claussen, Founder & Co-CEO, cargo.one says, “cargo.one has never been comfortable settling for the status quo and so we have always been at the forefront of helping air freight players navigate the complexities of digitalisation and enhance their operations. cargo.one digitally connects over 60 carriers with over 25,000 forwarder users globally via our technology and infrastructure. We power the world's largest forwarders, such as DB Schenker, with our robust and high-quality infrastructure and tooling.

“Our market position enables cargo.one to roll out further meaningful innovations at scale that can digitally connect and empower the air freight ecosystem.”
Moritz Claussen, cargo.one

For large and small forwarders alike, cargo.one delivers a game-changing ability to quote faster and win shipments more often. With innovations across rate procurement, rate management, quotation, customer interaction and booking and tracking, cargo.one aims to level up meaningful digitalisation across the industry with solutions that are efficient and joyful to use.”

Freightos: the end-to-end solution provider
“The Freightos platform is an end-to-end platform for air, ocean, and ground rate management, quoting, booking, and sales - connecting carriers, freight forwarders, and their respective customers in one digital ecosystem. We recognise that booking doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Real supply chain efficiency comes from having one platform that manages the entire process—from pricing to booking and beyond,” says Tyndall of Freightos.

“We’re also seeing momentum toward more advanced digital booking capabilities, with some carriers looking to enable ULD and allocation bookings.”
Wayne Tyndall, Freightos

“We drive value for our customers by providing them with on-demand air, ocean, and ground prices, combined with actual bookings. This is brought to life with a full suite that integrates into their tech stack and covers air, ocean and ground movements - It streamlines the entire process—managing rates, quoting through spot, tender, or tariff pricing, and seamlessly turning those quotes into confirmed bookings—so forwarders and carriers can work more efficiently without juggling multiple systems.”

CargoAi: Innovating digital workflow automation
When asked about how CargoAi platform automates critical tasks, Matt Petot, CEO, CargoAi says, “CargoAi’s marketplace leverages integrations with over 110 airlines to provide real-time capacity, schedule and rate information to forwarders to simplify air freight procurement workflows – done over phone, email and other means that would otherwise take hours or days. Documentation is streamlined through digital tools that automate the creation and processing of the entire end-to-end workflow, from client quotation to electronic air waybills and related paperwork, reducing manual errors and ensuring compliance.

“Our focus on ease of use and robust support helps build trust and encourages adoption of digital processes across the industry.”
Matt Petot, CargoAi

CargoBooking: Streamlining cargo booking workflows
“The booking process through Awery’s CargoBooking platform is straightforward and user-friendly. When a freight forwarder needs to book cargo space, they can input their shipment data (or use eMagic to automate this process) and immediately see current rates from airlines in real-time. Forwarders can then select their preferred option and make an instant booking, much like booking a flight ticket online,” says Anna Balan, Head of CargoBooking.

“Forwarders are also able to negotiate price points with the airline or GSA/GSSA via the platform. Throughout the process, they can track their booking status and monitor their shipments through the CargoBooking dashboard, bringing transparency to the entire process.”

“We are moving towards a future where digital booking is not just an option, but the standard way of doing business.”
Anna Balan, CargoBooking

Technological differentiation
Beyond their core business models, these platforms differentiate themselves through their technological approaches and capabilities. While all platforms offer Application Programming Interface (API) connectivity, they vary in the depth and breadth of these integrations.

“We combine the broadest market content with strong technology, in-house digital sales and User Experience (UX) expertise and vast market experience to deliver a go-to industry standard. Airlines and freight forwarders are seeing great gains from leveraging cargo.one and frankly, the best digital method will always prevail,” says Claussen about cargo.one.

“cargo.one’s mission is to help forwarders to convert more quotations to wins, reduce their costs and drive their profitability.”

As part of its continued innovation, cargo.one is also investing in AI for demand prediction. Claussen says, “We are also investing in AI for demand prediction – to offer forwarders the strongest, dynamic advice about the relevant capacity available for each shipment. cargo.one holds a wealth of compliant insights, and huge potential to apply AI and machine learning around shipment characteristics, forwarder and shipper needs, and the availability of supply options.”

WebCargo by Freightos goes beyond air cargo and supports multimodal freight digitalisation, including ocean and land freight, making it ideal for large forwarders and shippers handling diverse logistics needs.

“WebCargo by Freightos doesn’t impose limitations on what can be booked. Our platform supports all types of airfreight bookings, ground bookings in North America, and a small but growing network of ocean carriers. That said, carriers are at different stages in their digital adoption, and come with their own restrictions – and even readiness – to be on a platform,” says Tyndall of Freightos.

Highlighting the CargoBooking platform, Balan of CargoBooking, says, “CargoBooking stands apart from other ebooking platforms in three key areas, each solution addressing a key pain point in air cargo booking. Its eMagic tool, with embedded ChatGPT technology, automates data transfer from unstandardised formats, including emails, texts, PDFs, Excel files etc. Our AI is even able to distinguish between ambiguous terms like 'PER' (perishable cargo vs. Perth Airport) based on context, eliminating hours of manual data entry.

Second, CargoBooking's interface mirrors familiar platforms like Uber and Booking.com, making it remarkably intuitive. It is so straightforward that even those outside the industry could navigate it easily.

Third, the platform's speed sets it apart. By enabling instant quote creation and booking transactions, CargoBooking helps businesses respond to inquiries faster than their competitors, directly impacting their ability to win new business.”

CargoAi focuses on AI-driven air cargo booking and management, offering real-time rate searches, bookings, and tracking, along with sustainability tools like Cargo2ZERO.

“We have recently released our AI CargoCoPilot tool that helps automate quotations with companies like ECS Group to automate over 10,000 email quotations,” says Petot of CargoAi.

The real challenges of e-booking adoption
Despite their transformative potential, e-booking platforms face several challenges.

“The biggest challenge is change management. It’s easy to get stuck in the mindset of we’ve always done it this way, so why change?” says Tyndall of Freightos. He adds that the transition to digital is not happening all at once; some transactions are online, while others remain offline, creating operational challenges.

Beyond these operational hurdles, he also highlights another key issue in this hybrid environment: what he calls platform overload, forwarders have so many different platforms they need to operate in. He explains, “A shipment does not start or end with a booking. And forwarders do far more than just book air shipments. That’s why WebCargo at Freightos is deeply invested in building a multimodal, end-to-end solution that covers the full cycle workflow–from pricing management and quoting to booking and online sales, and post-booking business intelligence.”

Petot of CargoAi echoes this sentiment, emphasising that resistance to change, fragmented legacy systems, and concerns over data quality continue to hinder adoption.”Many stakeholders are accustomed to traditional, manual booking methods, while diverse legacy systems impede standardisation”

Future and the road ahead
“In the near future, digital booking will overtake offline bookings in terms of market share. Seeing ourselves as a digital enabler, there is huge future potential in digitally connecting all sizes and types of forwarder across the globe 24/7, enabling them to effortlessly collaborate with cargo.one on shipments at digital speed,” says Claussen of cargo.one.

Claussen further adds, “As we see more digital connectivity across the entire air cargo ecosystem, the most widely used platforms like cargo.one will deliver strong customisation to customer needs, more end-to-end visibility, and a truly seamless experience for forwarders.”

“We are moving towards a future where digital booking is not just an option, but the standard way of doing business. As more airlines and freight forwarders adopt these digital solutions, we will likely see a more connected and efficient air cargo industry where real-time information sharing becomes the norm. This will particularly benefit smaller players who previously struggled to compete in a technology-driven market,” says Balan of CargoBooking.

“The industry has been begging for one impactful platform that covers all modes at least since I began my own journey with Freightos back in 2014. We already have a large tech stack covering ground, ocean, air in terms of modes - and then rate management, quoting, booking, tendering & data. Our core focus is really about bringing all of these under one roof, in one platform,” explains Tyndall of Freightos.

Addressing the broader implications, Petot of CargoAi. notes, “Our focus on ease of use and robust support helps build trust and encourages adoption of digital processes across the industry. On the flipside, as the main centre point to multiple stakeholders, one of our key missions is to share the importance to digitising processes such as booking – often forgetting that such processes directly impact the Profit & Loss’ (P&L) bottom line – and we are happy to drive this change with all our airline partners.”

E-booking platforms have evolved from optional conveniences to essential components of modern air cargo operations.As digital adoption accelerates, the question for stakeholders is no longer whether to engage with e-booking platforms, but rather which platforms and implementation approaches will best support their strategic objectives in an increasingly competitive and digitally-enabled market landscape.