Silk Way West responds to rising digital booking demand
16 / 12 / 2021
Silkway West Airlines B747-8F. Source: WebCargo
Freighter operator Silk Way West Airlines is adding digital booking capabilities through a third-party portal for the first time in a response to a pandemic-driven increase in online bookings.
The Baku-headquartered airline has signed up to place its capacity on WebCargo, allowing the platform’s 10,000 users to make bookings on flights and have access to real-time pricing.
WebCargo forwarders will have access to bookings across Silk Way West Airlines beginning in January 2022 to destinations across Europe, and soon to be followed by Asia and the Americas.
“As of mid-January 2022, capacity across Silk Way West Airlines’ 13 freighters, which connect over 40 destinations across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, will be made available to WebCargo forwarders around the world starting from Europe,” the new partners said in a press release.
Silk Way West Airlines president and chief executive Wolfgang Meier said that pandemic had resulted in more people turning to digital services.
“It has become clear that the pandemic and increased global logistics demand has accelerated the need to offer digital booking capabilities for airfreight,” said Meier.
“Building on the strength of a full freighter network, Silk Way West Airlines looks forward to the new year by extending greater service accessibility and capacity visibility to our valued customers 24/7.”
Figures released by WebCargo back up Meier’s assertion: the company said that the number of bookings made through the platform has increased by 10 compared to last year.
Source: WebCargo
WebCargo added that the addition of Silk Way West Airlines brings the level of global capacity across top-100 airlines on WebCargo to more than 35%.
WebCargo chief executive Manel Galindo said: “In 2017, air cargo digitisation was a question of if the industry could adapt. By 2019 it was a question of when. Today, we’re asking how much faster it can go.
“Freighters like Silk Way West Airlines are showing that the answer is ‘faster than you can possibly imagine.
“We’re witnessing a massive shift towards Digital Air Cargo reflected on WebCargo’s booking and rate management platform.”
