Hermes and Awery link hands

In more news from air cargo Europe being held in Munich this week, Hermes Logistics Technologies (HLT) and Awery Aviation Software have announced a partnership agreement and launched a new joint software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for airlines.

The news was given at a press conference held at air cargo Europe today (May 10).

The new SaaS product is called h2A.

Powered by Awery and Hermes, this cloud-based, end-to-end solution is designed to enable airlines to manage, monitor and automate all aviation business processes and cargo operations on an integrated IT platform.

h2A is said by the partners to be “the only comprehensive platform to manage all processes across the entire lifecycle of [a] shipment, from warehousing to flight management and commercial activities, as well as all HR [human resources] and business processes behind the scenes”.

It digitises key processes across flight scheduling, fleet management, track and trace, imports and exports, ULD control, and invoicing and accounts, whilst also offering flexibility to suit the specific needs of its users.

“This partnership responds to an industry need to synchronise numerous, disparate workflow processes, something that can only be achieved through true integration and digitalisation,” said Vitaly Smilianets, Awery’s chief executive.

“This will enable greater process control and simplify operations for airlines, who can find everything they need in one place.”

By combining Awery’s knowledge of creating scalable aviation software platforms and HLT’s experience as a leading provider of cargo management systems, the pair have – they said – created a first-of-its-kind product that offers airlines twice the technical expertise in a single solution.

“At HLT we believe that collaboration between tech partners offering best-of-breed solutions is key to truly optimising air cargo management, and our joint venture with Awery marks a significant step in our strategy to help digitalise the industry,” remarked Yuval Baruch, HLT’s chief executive.

“h2A brings the best of both our market-leading functionalities together, and users will benefit from a one-of-a-kind airline SaaS solution, which is the most comprehensive and advanced on offer in the air cargo industry.”

Baruch continued: “As the product becomes more established, we foresee h2A having the potential to completely replace airlines’ multiple and disjointed legacy systems to lead a new age in aviation technology.”

Hermes has revealed other good news of late. In April, it said that it would be upgrading long-term customer Groundforce Portugal to its latest cloud-based Hermes 5 SaaS cargo management system.

Switching to Hermes SaaS will being major enhancements in terms of security and increasing the speed, volume and accuracy of cargo processing at three of the ground handler’s Portuguese stations, HLT said.

Groundforce Portugal’s operations at Lisbon, Porto, and Funchal airports will all benefit from the migration to Hermes SaaS. Its Faro station is also expected to switch over at some point.