Serving 24 airlines across seven continents, AIA Cargo has grown over the last 14 years into one of the leading independent general sales and service agents (GSSA). With the GSSA industry evolving in recent years and changing requirements from customers, AIA has sought to strength its position in the industry through strong investment, growing structures, geographical expansion and digitalisation.
Founded with a vision to provide airlines with a “exceptional, viable, pro-active solution for their cargo GSSA requirements,” AIA offers a range of services across air, road and sea, ranging from basic, non-exclusive agreements to exclusive and total cargo management solutions.
“We are an independent cargo GSA leader company in the global industry and our customers clearly understand our efficiencies and neutrality . On top of our highly valued sales and services our e-commerce, RFS , and special products like AVI are very attractive in the markets,” Jaime Salguero, CCO of AIA Cargo said.
“With 22 partner airlines, investment in staff, new offices and heavy investment in IT products AIA Cargo saw a large 25% increase in growth for 2022 across the network. The main bulk can be contributed towards the new AIA Germany set up which has seen a fantastic take up from customers on the products that AIA Cargo is offering to the German market. AIA pinpoints that Germany will have further growth in 2023 as a number of airlines enquire about the GSSA product on offer. AIA will continue to invest in 2023 and sees further potential for better growth despite the economic grumbles and potential face of recessions.”
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Digitalisation
To stay ahead in a rapidly changing market, AIA has sought to embrace technological innovations that can help to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operations. While the GSSA, and airfreight sector as a whole, might not have been the fastest industry to embrace digitalisation, AIA sees a “stable digital growth path” in its market.
The beauty of digitalisation is that it can improve operations in multiple environments. AIA sees Europe, North America and Asia as particularly benefiting from the introduction of technology in the industry.
While technology is being embraced by some, there are those within the airfreight industry who still prefer to do things the old-fashioned way, meaning GSSAs have to be prepared for that. AIA seeks to ensure that it can “do and combine” its resources “to deliver traditional and innovative digital services.”
Global growth
While the airfreight market has faced a number of hurdles, there are still plenty of areas for geographical expansion. With over 22 airline partners already, AIA has its eyes set on the horizon, citing Europe, Asia and the Americas as specific regions it’s targeting. This growth is reflective of the company’s truly global representation, as, based out of London’s Heathrow Airport, it’s connected to the world.
It’s not all plain sailing for those in the industry, with situations such as those in China, where strict measures have disrupted logistics, presenting challenges. However, Salguero was optimistic that “challenging times mean opportunities,” with AIA “trying to optimise those across China and other regions.”
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What’s next
With IT investment, a strong team, good planning and proactivity, AIA is hoping to expand as the market grows. While demand in the air cargo sector has, as expected, slowed in recent months, AIA “anticipated it and adapted very well” to enjoy “very positive results.”
As new capabilities, technology, commerciality and sustainability change the sector, AIA is looking at additional outsourcing opportunities and synergies to keep evolving and growing over the coming year and beyond.
“We are a very well balanced financially strong company and clearly identify and follow our revenue and costs quarterly and annual targets according to the market,” Salguero explained. “ We have hired new staff across all our countries and departments this year growing our local operations, sales, customer service, operations, resources, IT, marketing and management structures.”
