The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is launching three major AI initiatives designed to transform air cargo operations globally. The moves signal a significant push toward digital innovation across the freight sector, with tools built to deliver faster decision-making, stronger compliance, and real-time collaboration.
IATA represents over 360 airlines accounting for approximately 85% of global air traffic. The organisation’s new AI strategy targets operational efficiency, safety standards, and system interoperability across the entire cargo value chain.
The AI Subject Matter Expert: Instant Access to Critical Information
The first initiative is the AI Subject Matter Expert (AI SME), a mobile and web-based application that allows operational teams to access cargo and safety information using plain language questions. The tool provides accurate answers within seconds, cutting the time freight professionals spend searching through dense regulatory manuals.
Initially, the AI SME will support two key industry publications: the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) and the IATA Cargo Handling Manual (ICHM). IATA plans to progressively expand the tool across its full suite of reference publications.
For freight forwarders managing time-sensitive shipments, faster access to compliance data means faster quotes and fewer delays. The AI SME removes the friction from regulatory checks, enabling teams to quote complex routes and hazmat cargo with confidence.
Air Cargo AI Excellence Hub: Building Standards Together
IATA is also establishing the Air Cargo AI Excellence Hub, a collaborative platform uniting airlines, ground handlers, freight forwarders, technology providers, and regulators. The Hub will focus on three core areas:
- Best practice sharing across AI deployment and governance
- Strengthening compliance frameworks to align with global aviation standards
- Developing industry-wide AI standards for consistent, interoperable adoption
The Excellence Hub addresses a critical gap: as AI adoption accelerates, the cargo industry needs shared frameworks to ensure tools work together across borders, carriers, and systems. Without coordinated standards, fragmentation could undermine the technology’s potential.
“The scope for AI to accelerate air cargo’s digital transformation is enormous. Together, these initiatives will help to make the most of AI’s potential with an industry adoption that is consistent, interoperable, and aligned with global aviation standards.”
– Brendan Sullivan, Global Head of Cargo, IATA
AI for Interline Cargo: Connecting Incompatible Systems
The third initiative tackles one of the sector’s most persistent operational challenges: interline cargo operations, where shipments move across multiple airlines using different IT systems.
IATA and strategic partners are exploring AI agents capable of connecting incompatible platforms to enable real-time collaboration on bookings, disruptions, and cancellations. The initiative falls under the Data & Technology Proof of Concept (PoC) area within IATA’s Strategic Partnerships Programme.
For freight forwarders booking multi-leg routes, the current reality involves manual coordination, email chains, and system gaps that slow quotes and increase errors. AI-powered interline collaboration could eliminate these bottlenecks, delivering live updates and automated rebooking when disruptions occur.
What This Means for Freight Forwarders
These initiatives deliver measurable benefits for independent forwarders competing against larger operators:
- Faster compliance checks: Quote hazmat and complex cargo in minutes, not hours
- Improved operational speed: Move from quote to booking faster with instant access to regulatory data
- Better interline coordination: Real-time collaboration across carriers reduces delays and improves client communication
- Stronger industry standards: Coordinated AI adoption means tools work together, reducing system friction
For SME forwarders, speed and accuracy are competitive advantages. IATA’s AI tools level the playing field, giving smaller operators access to the same decision-making speed as enterprise competitors.
Building a Safer, Smarter Cargo Ecosystem
IATA’s broader goal is to use these initiatives as a foundation for wider AI integration. The organisation will monitor learnings from the AI SME, Excellence Hub, and interline PoC to identify additional opportunities for technological innovation and collaborative development.
The air cargo sector faces ongoing challenges, including persistent delays in the manufacturing supply chain for widebody freighters. AI won’t solve capacity constraints, but it can optimise how existing capacity is allocated, booked, and managed.
Industry Context: AI Adoption Accelerates Across Logistics
IATA’s initiatives arrive as AI deployment accelerates across the broader logistics sector. C.H. Robinson recently deployed AI agents to reduce missed less-than-truckload (LTL) pickups, demonstrating how artificial intelligence can address specific operational pain points with measurable ROI.
The freight forwarding industry is moving from proof-of-concept to production deployment. IATA’s coordinated approach ensures AI adoption happens in a structured, standards-based way that benefits the entire cargo value chain.
What Comes Next
IATA will progressively roll out the AI SME application across its reference publications, expanding beyond DGR and ICHM to cover additional operational manuals and regulatory frameworks. The Excellence Hub will convene industry stakeholders to develop governance models and technical standards for AI deployment.
The interline cargo PoC will test AI agents in live operational environments, with findings used to refine the technology and inform wider rollout across participating carriers.
For freight forwarders, the message is clear: AI is no longer experimental. It’s becoming core infrastructure for competitive air cargo operations. The tools IATA is building will define how the industry quotes, books, tracks, and manages cargo over the next decade.
Forwarders who adopt AI-powered workflows early will quote faster, operate more efficiently, and deliver better client communication. Those who delay risk falling behind competitors who’ve already made the shift.
