LATAM Cargo, Swiss Airtainer win IATA Air Cargo Innovation Awards

LATAM Cargo and Swiss Airtainer (SAT) are the winners of the IATA Air Cargo Innovation Awards for 2023, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The prizes were given out during the 16th World Cargo Symposium (WCS) in Istanbul, Turkey.

LATAM Cargo earned the Corporate Innovation Award for its plastic reduction efforts in its cargo operations in Chile and Brazil, which are part of the company's ambition to become a zero waste-to-landfill organisation by 2027.

Swiss Airtainer (SAT) won the Start-ups and Innovators Innovation Award for developing a temperature-controlled container for pharmaceutical goods shipment. To make the container sustainable and energy self-sustaining, SAT "reinvented" it from the ground up with the following proprietary components: composite material (IP), architecture (IP), inflight detector (IP), control system, cooling system with redundancy, new battery packs, and a battery management system & solar panel system.

“Innovation holds the key to development, sustainability, and success in the air cargo industry, that’s why we launched the IATA Air Cargo Innovation Awards. I am honoured to present the Corporate Award to LATAM Cargo for their innovation efforts in sustainability and to Swiss Airtainer for the development of an innovative temperature-controlled container for the transport of pharmaceutical goods. It’s important to recognize the individuals and companies that are driving change,” said Brendan Sullivan, Global Head of Cargo, IATA.

An independent jury which included industry experts, academics and CEOs evaluated 42 entries from across the industry from small start-ups to large multinationals. Projects were evaluated based upon the idea, its potential to create value, and the likelihood of achieving success.

The jury selected the winner of the Corporate Innovators Award and the three finalists for the Start-ups and Innovators Innovation Award. The finalists presented their projects to over 500 audience members during the IATA WCS closing plenary, who subsequently cast their vote for their preferred innovation project. SAT received $15,000 to further develop their innovation.

The IATA Innovation Awards were launched in 2014 to encourage and promote innovation in the air cargo industry.