Last year, our network was back into full force since the challenges of the pandemic, and we’re continuing to shape the future of airfreight with innovation and enthusiasm. So it’s only right that we dedicate a round-up to a successful year thanks to our partners, customers and colleagues. Here’s what we got up to in 2022:
Partnered with third-party platforms
To keep up with the fast-paced developments of digitisation in the cargo industry, we brought the most user-friendly, efficient booking and transaction processes to our customers. Firstly, we teamed up with Cargo.one, then, in December, we connected with CargoWise.
Hit new SME milestones
Thanks to our recent collaboration with Neutral Air Partner, we’ve teamed up with a number of small- and medium-sized enterprises. We were delighted to offer these SMEs access to our extensive network, industry knowledge and specialised products. Not to mention our loyalty programme, FORWARD.REWARDS, which is free to join and members earn points every time they make a booking with IAG Cargo. These points can then be spent on flights, hotels, and cargo credit.
Pushed our sustainability initiatives
IAG was the first European airline group to commit to 10% of its fuel to be sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2030. IAG Cargo is committed to making aviation more sustainable and over the last year has bought over 12.5 million litres of SAF to reduce emissions in the supply chain with Kuehne+Nagel and Bollore. But we didn’t stop there: we’ve also been trialling two products to help reduce our impact on the environment– the first an electric terminal vehicle from Terberg and a biodegradable film from Verpa Folie for wrapping transported goods. By replacing an existing terminal vehicle with an electric Terberg, approximately 30 tonnes of CO2 will be saved per vehicle per year
We opened up new routes
Throughout 2022, we re-launched key trade routes across our expansive wide-body network, including relinking London with Sydney and London with Tokyo. We took to the skies from Barcelona to Chile and San Francisco, and there was a restart from Dublin to Miami. We also extended our network by introducing new routes – like the direct service from Barcelona to Los Angeles. There were celebrations when Madrid’s Barajas airport offered belly capacity to Dallas and Washington DC – the occasion was even marked by a water cannon salute.
Celebrated five years of our loyalty scheme
We raised a glass to our fifth year of giving back to our customers who are part of our FORWARD.REWARDS programme, while welcoming 700 new members. After looking back at what partners have been spending their points on, we discovered that thousands of points had been spent on passenger flights, our most popular reward option, and £1 million worth of hotel rooms were booked up for some well-earned downtime.
One of the first to trial new service by Freightos
In May 2022, IAG Cargo was one of the first to trial the new service by Freightos, WebCargo, that allows forwarders to pay for their bookings on the platform rather than having to use a separate payment tool.
Enhanced our pharma product
Millions of doses of vaccines and pharmaceuticals are transported globally every day, and it wouldn’t be possible without the ground-breaking technology from our partners like Envirotainer, who specialise in secure cold chain solutions. We partnered with them to offer our customers their new Releye® RLP & RAP containers, which have a battery life of 170 hours, fully integrated live monitoring and optimised cooling.
Restarted our graduate and apprenticeship programmes
We welcomed our first graduates since 2019! Our latest cohort of graduates and apprentices have showered us with their ideas and energy since joining the business. The IAG Cargo graduate programme is a fantastic opportunity for young people to progress their careers in one of the world’s most exciting industries.
Said hello to new faces in our leadership team
We welcomed Caroline Andrews as Chief People Officer who is already transforming the employer experience for everyone in the IAG Cargo family and we also welcomed David Walker as Chief Digital and Information Officer who is driving the rapidly developing digitisation of the company.
Held our first customer events since pre-pandemic
It’s felt like a lifetime of waiting to finally see our customers face-to-face again. In India, we gathered at a roundtable event, where we got stuck into invigorating conversations about industry trends on technological innovation and sustainability. Following that we held a Customer Listening Forum in India to hear of the compelling new ideas and concepts, which we hope to build on over the coming years. We’re eagerly awaiting more face-to-face get-togethers in 2023, because video calls are so last year!
Accepted our first event invites
Jetting off to customer events around the world is one of the many great things about being an international company. In May, we attended the CNS Partnership Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, where we revelled in social events and listened to insightful presentations. This was followed by our India team attending Air Cargo India in June, which was brimming with 74 exhibition stands. Most recently, we headed to Bali for a conference from Neutral Air Partner to meet new people and exchange ideas, views and solutions.
Check out our most interesting and unique movements of 2022 here.