Air France KLM Cargo signs up for IATA’s new DG AutoCheck
13 / 03 / 2019
Marcel de Nooijer, executive vice president, Air France KLM Cargo (left) and Alexandre de Juniac, IATA director general and CEO
Air France KLM Cargo (AFKL Cargo) has become the first airline group to adopt IATA’s Dangerous Goods AutoCheck (DG AutoCheck) for the acceptance of dangerous goods shipments.
“DG AutoCheck provides a digital solution to more effectively manage the transport of dangerous goods by air for our customers while at the same time enhancing safety and compliance,” said Marcel de Nooijer, executive vice president, Air France KLM Cargo. “We will work closely with our ground handling partners to expand the use of DG AutoCheck beyond our hubs.”
Air France KLM Cargo handles more than 1.5m shipments per year, with about 173,000 of them requiring dangerous goods handling.
DG AutoCheck is a digital solution that facilitates the acceptance of dangerous goods by checking the compliance of the Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods (DGD) against all relevant rules and regulations contained in the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR).
Optical character recognition technology transforms the paper DGD into electronic data. DG AutoCheck can also receive electronic Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods (e-DGD). This data is then processed and verified automatically using the digital version of the DGR.
DG AutoCheck also facilitates a ground handler’s or airline’s decision to accept or reject a shipment during the physical inspection stage by providing a pictorial representation of the package with the marking and labelling required for air transport.
“Air cargo demand is forecast to double over the next 20 years. To ensure that the industry is ready to benefit from this growth, modern and harmonised standards that facilitate safe, secure and efficient operations, particularly in relation to the carriage of dangerous goods need to be implemented,” said Frederic Leger, IATA’s director airport, passenger, cargo, security products.
AFKL Cargo is part of an industry working group made up of more than twenty global organisations supporting the development of DG AutoCheck. This group contains airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers and express integrators.
