Air cargo quality standards organisation Cargo iQ has welcomed airline and travel IT solutions provider Hitit as a Strategic Associate Member to help drive forward the organisation’s goal to enhance global quality standards in the air cargo industry through digitalisation.

Hitit’s combined team of tech experts and airline industry veterans will lend its sector insight and expertise in digital data management to Cargo iQ member discussions and projects.

Cargo iQ state that Hitit will help to drive data sharing between members by contributing to the development of the Cargo iQ Data Management Platform (CDMP).

Lothar Moehle, executive director of Cargo iQ, said: “With Hitit planning to develop the CDMP functionalities in the short term, they will be best positioned to serve their airline partners by providing planning and measuring functionalities as per Cargo iQ specifications.

“We feel very positive about this new addition to our membership as it will enable more industry stakeholders to improve process quality for their operations.”

Cargo iQ members use the CDMP to create shipment route maps and monitor shipment movement and status updates from airport to airport. CDMP data reports are then analysed to drive quality improvements by all members.

Atilla Lise, chief transportation solutions officer at Hitit, said: “For the past four years, Hitit has been committed to driving technological advancements within the air cargo industry, so it is of utmost importance for us to be actively engaged in an influential interest group like Cargo iQ, supporting the establishment and implementation of high-quality standards for air cargo.

“As a new Strategic Associate Member, we want to continue to contribute to the digitalisation of the industry.”

Hitit was founded in 1994 by two female executives with previous experience working for Turkish Airlines. It is now the third largest passenger system provider worldwide as of 2019, serving more than 60 airlines across six continents with business-critical software solutions, hosting infrastructure, and support services.

In 2018, Hitit added modular and scalable air cargo solutions to its portfolio to bring its partners a single point of integrated service and drive digital transformation in airfreight.

Lise added: “Even very large companies in the sector continue to do business with old technologies and this habit of doing business spanning decades, coupled with the problem of transferring data that has reached very large dimensions, has turned digitalisation into a much desired but somewhat delayed reality.

“As part of Cargo iQ, we are eager to maintain our momentum in driving industry-wide digitisation. Our focus remains on actively collaborating with industry stakeholders, as we strive to usher in a new era and build upon the success of our uninterrupted four-year air cargo initiatives.”