Air cargo is a crucial catalyst for global trade and shapes the future of sustainable logistics value chains. However, striking a balance between environmental stewardship and operational efficiency poses practical challenges.
In October, IATA hosted a webinar on Air Cargo Sustainability Trends and Best Practices, available through FlyAware for IATA members and Strategic Partners. This session featured IATA experts discussing the critical need to integrate sustainability into air cargo operations, the challenges facing the industry, and practical strategies to advance environmental sustainability while maintaining high-efficiency standards.
Key topics covered included:
- IATA's commitment to supporting essential industry goals for achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, including solutions specifically designed for the air cargo sector, such as CO2 Connect for Cargo.
- The aim to reduce perishable goods loss throughout the supply chain, highlighted in the dedicated Guidance on Perishable Loss Reduction in Air Cargo (pdf).
- The emphasis on investing in more efficient processes and infrastructure to enable sustainable transformation, as well as the IATA Environmental Assessment (IEnvA) certification programs targeted to air cargo handling facilities and freight forwarders.
- The newly published guidance, Towards Sustainable Management of IoT Cargo Devices (pdf), which addresses the challenges associated with the increasing number of these devices in air cargo operations and promotes practices aimed at waste reduction, transitioning to circular models, and encouraging efficient returns and recycling.
Becoming the standard: single-use plastic products reduction in operations
Following the publication of the report Reassessing Single-Use Plastic Products in the Airline Sector (pdf), IATA published the deep dive document Single-Use Plastic Products (SUPP) Reduction in Air Cargo (pdf) focusing on plastic sheeting and stretch wrap. The findings of this document will be included in the next edition of the IATA Cargo Handling Manual (ICHM), which will consist of operational recommendations to reduce the amount of SUPP through tools such as a plastic sheeting sizing chart, incorporate reusable alternatives and segregate and recycle SUPP adequately.
In addition, LATAM Cargo contributed during the webinar with a practical presentation on its actions to reduce plastic waste in air cargo operations and enable circular economy strategies. The airline covered several case studies in their operations in Chile and Brazil to replace stretch wrap with less harmful alternatives and use reusable alternatives to plastic sheeting.
Join FlyAware today to watch the entire session
FlyAware supports airlines' journey towards sustainable aviation and provides unique access to content curated specifically for their needs. FlyAware is open exclusively to airlines, airline associations, and IATA Strategic Partners in the areas of Sustainability, Airline Industry Economics and Fuel Services. Those with access to the platform can watch the webinar.
For those who are not yet on FlyAware, they can follow the below steps to join the platform:
- Go to iata.org/flyaware
- Request Access: Click on "REQUEST ACCESS" and log in or create a profile on the IATA Customer Portal using your business email address.
- Select FlyAware: Choose FlyAware from the available services and request access.
This step-by-step user guide will give you further instructions on how to follow virtual events on FlyAware.