IATA Advances AI Initiatives to Support Air Cargo Operations

12 March 2026 (Lima) - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is advancing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in air cargo with three initiatives to improve operational efficiency, strengthen safety and compliance, and accelerate innovation across the global air cargo value chain:

• Making publications more efficient: IATA is launching an AI Subject Matter Expert (AI SME), a mobile and web-based application that helps operational teams quickly find information in IATA cargo and safety publications by asking questions in plain language. The tool provides accurate answers within seconds. This supports faster operational decision-making, strengthens compliance, and improves efficiency in time-critical environments.

The AI SME will be available initially for the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) and the IATA Cargo Handling Manual (ICHM) and will be rolled out progressively across IATA’s suite of reference publications.

• Facilitating collaboration: IATA is launching the Air Cargo AI Excellence Hub bringing together airlines, ground handlers, freight forwarders, technology providers, and regulators to support the orderly integration of AI in air cargo. The Hub will enable collaboration on best practices in areas such as governance and compliance, the sharing of experiences, and the development and deployment of standards.
• Improving interline air cargo: IATA and its Strategic Partners are exploring the potential for AI to achieve efficiencies in interline air cargo. The parties will work together with the aim of developing a use case to enable airlines using different IT systems to collaborate in real time on bookings, disruptions, and cancellations by using AI agents to achieve system interoperability among users.  

This initiative is part of the Data & Technology Proof of Concept (PoC) area in the Strategic Partnerships Program.

“The scope for AI to accelerate air cargo’s digital transformation is enormous. Together, these initiatives will help to make the most of AI’s potential with an industry adoption that is consistent, interoperable, and aligned with global aviation standards. Importantly, we will learn from these initiatives to identify additional areas where standards, technological innovation, and collaborative development can enable safer, smarter, and more efficient operations,” said Brendan Sullivan, IATA’s Global Head of Cargo.