For more than a decade, the air cargo industry has discussed digital collaboration, interoperability and paperless processes. For freight forwarders, these discussions are anything but new. The relevant question today is not whether the vision is compelling, but whether the industry has finally moved beyond concepts and pilot projects.
The answer is nuanced. Progress is visible, but structural constraints remain.
Ten years on: what has really changed?
For more than a decade, digitalization in air cargo largely meant bilateral integrations and EDI messaging. Connectivity was possible, but expensive and difficult to scale. As a result, most forwarders continued to rely on email, PDF documents and manual data entry. Industry data from the mid-2010s shows that only a small share of shipments benefited from end-to-end digital data exchange. Industry experts confirm that old standards such as Cargo-IMP are still in use and that the complete replacement by ONE Record has not yet been completed.
What has changed since then is not the ambition, but the technical foundation. APIs have become the dominant integration model across industries, cloud infrastructures have reduced entry barriers, and standardization initiatives are now designed for network-wide adoption rather than point-to-point connections. This shift marks a fundamental difference.
Recent surveys also show rising awareness and readiness among stakeholders, indicating a broadening commitment to shared digital frameworks. This level of alignment did not exist in earlier digitalization phases.
From vision to early operational reality
In the past years, digital collaboration has begun to move closer to daily operations. Cathay Cargo’s decision to exchange shipment data with freight forwarders in live operations under the ONE Record standard ahead of the original JAN26 target, is widely regarded as an important proof point.
At the same time, expectations should remain realistic. Legacy messaging standards such as Cargo-IMP continue to underpin a large share of operational processes. Many airlines and forwarders are running hybrid environments that combine APIs, legacy messages and manual workflows. Full ecosystem-wide interoperability remains a medium- to long-term objective rather than an immediate outcome.
APIs improve efficiency, not complexity
API-based booking and distribution platforms demonstrate tangible benefits for freight forwarders. Access to live rates and capacity directly from core systems has reduced email traffic and improved response times, particularly in volatile markets.
However, APIs do not eliminate structural differences in airline products, surcharge logic or exception handling. Automation works well for standard cases, but operational expertise remains essential when deviations occur. In practice, APIs accelerate processes, but they do not harmonize them.
This distinction is critical. Open interfaces expose complexity more quickly, but they do not resolve it by default.
What the future is likely to deliver
Over the next five years, broader adoption of API-based standards such as ONE Record is expected to improve data consistency and visibility, particularly in areas such as shipment tracking, pre-advice, customs status updates and sustainability reporting. Industry estimates suggest that forwarders with high levels of system integration can reduce manual data handling by up to 30% to 40%.
At the same time, full end-to-end digital integration across the air cargo ecosystem remains unlikely in the short term. Regulatory fragmentation, legacy system dependencies and uneven digital maturity will continue to shape operational reality. As a result, complementary approaches such as AI-supported data mapping and automation are increasingly discussed as pragmatic tools to bridge gaps where standardization alone falls short.
A forwarder’s perspective
For European freight forwarders, open ecosystems and APIs are no longer optional innovation initiatives. They are becoming a baseline requirement driven by customer expectations, regulatory demands and competitive pressure. The decisive factor is not access to APIs, but the ability to integrate them into operational workflows, data governance and organizational capabilities.
Open ecosystems have not yet delivered seamless collaboration across the entire industry. But compared to a decade ago, the foundations are significantly stronger. APIs and shared digital standards are no longer theoretical constructs. They are gradually redefining how freight forwarders operate and compete in an increasingly digital air cargo environment.
