British Airways’ (BA) freight division is to take part in the world’s first trial to replace paper documents with electronic processes when transporting cargo.

E-freight is one of the International Air Transport Association (Iata) industry priorities to simplify business processes at airlines by the end of 2007.

The BA trial, which is due to run between August and December, also offers the potential for significant cost savings.

A great deal of paperwork is amassed for goods transportation, says BA World Cargo deliveries manager Ed Searancke.

‘Depending on the type of cargo, documentation is required from government agencies, as well as duty and declaration papers for customs,’ he said.

‘The trial will cost us more in the short term because we will be running paper and electronic processes in parallel, but in the long term it will speed processes up and reduce the administration and errors.’

Other priorities for Iata include all tickets being issued electronically and adoption of barcode-enabled boarding passes.

BA is leading the charge in adopting the changes, but with the 31 December deadline rapidly approaching, slow progress in other parts of the world could affect compliance in the UK.

Adopting the new technologies could save billions of pounds in administration and processing, says Iata. But most benefits come only when all carriers are on-board with the changes.

‘Nearly 90 per cent of passenger tickets in the UK are now issued electronically, but this means airlines are running parallel systems for the one in 10 passengers who still use paper tickets,’ said an Iata spokesman.

‘Only when the airlines eliminate all paper processing and abandon old systems can savings be realised.’

Paper tickets cost airlines about £5 each, compared with 50p per e-ticket.

The biggest challenge, and potentially most rewarding, is agreement between companies.

Ticketing arrangements where a single journey is carried out by two or more airlines require data to be shared between the carriers’ databases, many of which are incompatible.

‘Some parts of the world are only now upgrading legacy systems to ensure they can meet the deadline,’ says Iata.

BA has upgraded all its check-in systems to accept e-tickets and the company is working with software suppliers to support connections with other airlines’ systems. BA says that 95 per cent of its tickets are now issued electronically.

Globally, the number has reached 79 per cent so far this year, a five per cent rise on 2006.

Newer carriers have had the luxury of either inventing themselves online or quickly transferring to a more efficient web-based business model.

EasyJet is one of the few airlines to issue 100 per cent of tickets electronically – 98 per cent are issued over the internet, the rest via a call centre.

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Mobile phone ticketing – where passengers check in and board using a text message – are being tested at selected airports. The International Air Transport Association is creating a global standard to encourage adoption.

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