Air, Freight News, Logistics

Descartes Streamlines Air Cargo Data Exchange

[ April 11, 2025   //   Gary Burrows ]

Descartes Systems Group, the on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions provider, announced that the Descartes Air Messaging solution has streamlined the transmission of air shipment data according to the International Air Transport Association’s ONE Record messaging standard.

IATA’s ONE Record initiative aims to help airlines, their partners and service providers digitize air cargo messaging services by Jan. 1, 2026, replacing the traditional exchange of documents using Cargo-IMP and Cargo XML standards.

Designed specifically for the air cargo industry, Descartes Air Messaging supports a broad range of data standards and message specifications to share air shipment information across regional and global operations, including application programming interfaces, or APIs, electronic data interchange, or EDI and direct system-to-system connectivity. With more accurate and up-to-date air shipment information, the air cargo industry is better positioned to increase transparency, improve efficiency, and ultimately speed up the movement of freight.

“Lufthansa Cargo is committed to digitization initiatives and projects that better connect our customers to their stakeholders and that facilitate easier and faster transportation of air cargo shipments,” said Christian Lehr, senior director global fulfillment development at Lufthansa Cargo. “The ability of Descartes’ solution to support the ONE Record standard is an important step in helping us provide customers with a more efficient, real-time data-sharing model using a single record for each shipment.”

Lufthansa Cargo is a leading cargo airline and part of the Lufthansa Group, Europe’s largest airline group. Through its four cargo hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Brussels and Vienna, the airfreight specialist transports an average of 2,500 tons of freight per day. This is based on a strong and reliable airport-to-airport network that covers some 350 destinations in more than 100 countries.

In 2024, Lufthansa generated revenues of 3.26 billion euros and a transport performance of 8.5 billion freight tonne-kilometers. It employs about 4,200 people worldwide.

Learn more about Descartes’ air cargo industry solutions here.

Tags: Descartes Systems Group, Lufthansa Cargo