Introduction to

e-AWB
April 2013
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1. Understanding
e-AWB
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What is e-AWB?
The Air Waybill (AWB) is a critical air cargo document that
constitutes the contract of carriage between the shipper
(forwarder) and the carrier (airline)
e-AWB removes the requirement for a paper Air Waybill,
significantly simplifying the air freight supply chain process
With the e-AWB, there is no longer a need to print, handle
or archive the paper AWB
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e-AWB Benefits
Improve productivity by eliminating manual tasks and
streamlining processes
Reduce processing costs due to the removal of paper AWB
and the elimination of the requirements to file paper AWB
Improve customer service by speeding up cargo
processing
Increase quality of information thanks to electronic data
that are used from the very beginning to the very end of the
air cargo supply chain
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How does e-AWB work?
Front Reverse
Electronic messages
Signed e-AWB
agreement
+
+
e-AWB
Paper Air
Waybill
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Bilateral agreements
(Recommended Practice 1670)
Multilateral agreement
(Resolution 672)
MULTILATERAL
AGREEMENT
&
2 kinds of e-AWB agreements
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Bilateral e-AWB agreement (RP1670)
Main part of the
agreement
Annex A: defines the electronic
messages and other technical aspects
Annex B: defines the conditions of
contract (Resolution 600i)
A Standard Model e-AWB Agreement (IATA RP1670)
has been developed by the industry
Annex C: defines the technical
specifications of the Cargo Receipt
Annex D (optional): see section on
Warsaw routes
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Multilateral e-AWB agreement (Reso672)
Main part of the
agreement
Annex A: defines the conditions of
contract (Resolution 600i)
Freight forwarder submission form: To
declare affiliates and contacts
With the multilateral agreement, a party only needs to enter the agreement once to
be entitled to do e-AWB with many business partners.
Airline submission form: To declare
airports and contacts
The multilateral agreement entitles an airline to print a paper AWB on behalf on the
freight forwarder when needed, in case the airline is offering this service.
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The Cargo Receipt evidences the e-AWB
The cargo receipt shall be produced by the Carrier upon Shippers request
Resolution 600g specifies the layout
The Cargo Receipt is used in both the bilateral and the multilateral agreements
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Electronic messages involved in e-AWB
Waybill messages
(sent by the forwarder)
Status messages
(sent by the airline)
IATA Cargo IMP FWB FSU/FOH
FSU/RCS
IATA Cargo XML Waybill Status
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e-AWB Business Processes
Immediate Cargo Receipt Delivery flow
Parties sign an e-AWB agreement (once for all subsequent shipments)
Freight Forwarder
Receive Freight Deliver Freight
Airline
Freight Acceptance FSU/RCS
Print Cargo Receipt
(if need be)
(produce cargo receipt)
Receive Information FWB Prepare Consol
(system starts data validation)
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e-AWB Business Processes
Deferred Cargo Receipt Delivery flow
Parties sign an e-AWB agreement (once for all subsequent shipments)
Freight Forwarder
Receive Freight Deliver Freight
Airline
Freight on Hand
(warehouse receipt)
FSU/FOH

Freight Acceptance FSU/RCS
Print Cargo Receipt
(if need be)
(produce cargo receipt)
Receive Information FWB Prepare Consol
(system starts data validation)
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Where can e-AWB be used?
Montreal Convention 99
(MC99) and Montreal Protocol
4 (MP4) allow the use of an e-
AWB in lieu of the paper AWB
Paper is REQUIRED on other
trade-lanes (Warsaw trade-
lanes)
80% of the worldwide cargo
volume occurs on routes
underlying an international
treaty compatible with e-AWB
No treaty trade-lanes
Warsaw trade-lanes
MC99/MP4 trade lanes
allow e-AWB
(accounting for 80% of
the cargo volumes)
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2. The e-AWB
project
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100% e-AWB by 2015
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Air cargos modernization challenge
Electronic messages exist since the 80s, but
the air cargo industry still relies on paper &
human intervention

Airfreight shipment generates up to 30 different
paper documents!

Behaviors have not changed yet: bookings,
track & trace still predominantly based-on
human intervention
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Objectives of e-AWB project
Replace the paper Air Waybills by the
electronic version. No more paper AWB
tendered to airlines!

Provide a win-win-win-win scenario for
airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers
and customs by lowering costs, increasing
data accuracy and improving customer
experience
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Key milestones for the Industry
2010: standard approved (RP1670) by the Industry and
piloted by 9 airlines in 8 countries
2013: 6% e-AWB 4 major cargo airlines achieving
more than 80% penetration for e-AWB shipments
out of their home market
2013: 20% e-AWB
2014: 50% e-AWB
2015: 100% e-AWB
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Who is doing e-AWB as of March 2013?
More than 100.000 e-AWB shipments every month!
Above 75 %* 75 to 20 %* Less than 20 %*
*: Penetration rate at home market main hub
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The delivery approach to reach 100%
Providing tools
Engaging the Industry
Mobilizing the stakeholders to act
Tracking progress
Solving issues
Promoting success!

Contact cargo@iata.org to get in touch with the e-AWB experts of the industry

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The e-AWB is 1 document of e-freight
Number of Documents & Complexity
Benefits &
Shipments
e-AWB
e-freight
Now: ~30 paper documents / shipment
e-AWB is the first step
towards e-freight!
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e-AWB Project in a nutshell
Objectives:
No more paper AWB tendered to airlines!
Provide a win-win-win-win scenario for
airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers
and customs by lowering costs, increasing
data accuracy and improving customer
experience
Replace the paper AWB by the e-AWB
Achievements to date:
2009: standard developed by the e-AWB
Advisory Group (airlines and freight forwarders)
2010: standard approved by the Industry
2012: 19 airlines live with e-AWB
2013: Multilateral e-AWB agreement


Targets / mandate:
End of 2013, 20% e-AWB
End of 2014, 50% e-AWB
End of 2015, 100% e-AWB
Materials (on www.iata.org/e-awb ):
e-AWB Basics
e-AWB Specifications
IATA Recommended Practice 1670
Multilateral e-AWB agreement
e-AWB video

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3. Your e-AWB
project
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Reduce your costs and delays

Improve your customer service

Start e-AWB, now!
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Before you start
Set-up your project team
Your e-AWB project champion needs to
be knowledgeable on IT, have cargo experience
and the passion to make it happen!
Get the support from your Senior Management (Sales,
IT, Legal, Operations, Customer support, Claims,
Finance)
Learn about e-AWB
Communicate, educate, promote all internal staff
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Before you start
Define your project plan
What?
Define key milestones
Review e-AWB agreement
Identify technical and
business process gaps
Engage your Ground
Handlers
Plan external communication


Where?
Home market first
Top trade-lanes
All trade lanes from your
e-AWB live locations

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Checklist to implement e-AWB
1. Can you carry on your activities without paper
AWB?
2. Do you have the technology to support e-AWB?
3. Do you produce high-quality electronic
messages?
4. Have you signed the IATA multilateral e-AWB
agreement?
5. Have you engaged all your business partners?
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Can you carry on your activities without paper AWB?
Define the TO-BE business process for your paperless environment
(single vs. dual process; cargo acceptance without paper; paper still
needed in the e-AWB process)
Pay attention to the handling of exceptions (multiple FWBs in case of
correction, FWB message not received, mismatch between FWB and
delivered cargo)
As an airline: Check if you fly on Warsaw Routes for which the paper
AWB is still needed. If yes, consider printing the paper AWB on behalf
of your customer so that a single process can be implemented for all
routes! (foreseen in RP1670 and in the multilateral e-AWB agreement)
As a freight forwarder: Check how your airline partners are handling
routes on which a paper AWB is still needed
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Do you have the technology to support e-AWB?
Ensure you have the capability to send, receive & archive
FWB, FSU/RCS, FSU/FOH messages (or equivalent XML
messages), and print-out the Cargo Receipt
Understand the ECC code and how it works
An airline may offer a web portal to its small &
medium size customers
Improve the data quality of messages by
working together with your business partners
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Do you have the technology to support e-AWB?
(For airlines)

Make sure GHA
can receive and
issue the
electronic
messages
associated to e-
AWB
The graph
illustrates the
recommended
flows
*: Cargo-IMP or equivalent XML messages Note: Greyed out messages are optional
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Do you produce high-quality electronic messages?
Ensure electronic messages that replace paper
documentation are near to 100% accurate as there will
be no more paper AWB


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Do you produce high-quality electronic messages?
KPI for data quality
Measure the message penetration rate: the percentage
of shipment in which correctly structured AWB messages
are received.
Measure the quality of messages: among the correctly
structured AWB messages, the percentage of messages
that do not require any correction after the reception of
messages.
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Do you produce high-quality electronic messages?
IATA set up the Message Improvement Program (MIP) to help
airlines and forwarders improving data quality of electronic
messages
MIP is open to airlines and forwarders and is free of charge
Airlines provide each month data into MIP
Both carriers and forwarders receives reports out of MIP each
month. Data is aggregated so that confidential data cannot be
derived from the reported information.
Based on the reports, each stakeholder is able to get in touch with
its business partners to take action on the identified issues
More information on MIP: MIP website

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Have you signed the IATA multilateral
e-AWB agreement?

Join the multilateral e-AWB agreement:
http://www.iata.org/e-awb-multilateral

Find out who has joined the multilateral e-AWB
agreement

Note: Some business partners may decide to use the bilateral agreement
(RP1670) instead of the multilateral e-AWB agreement.
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Have you engaged all your business partners?
Develop your e-AWB roll-out approach(top 20 customers, top
stations)
Consider regulatory and network constraints!
Leverage e-Cargo Matchmaker to share information with partners
Engage and communicate!




Airlines
Freight forwarders
Ground handlers
Customs

Sales agents
Interline partners
Airports
IT providers

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e-AWB roll-out approach
Run pilot first
Decide at what airport you want to roll out e-AWB first. For an airline:
The main hub is typically used.
Train your staff: sales, ops, legal, claims, accounting
As an airline: Identify the freight forwarder(s) that you will engage for
the e-AWB pilot. Technical capability and quality of messages are key
dimensions to be considered.
As a freight forwarder: Collaborate with your airline partner
Run several trials and adjust processes as necessary
Prepare contingency plans in case of go-live issues
Go live and monitor your first e-AWB shipments
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e-AWB roll-out approach
Increase e-AWB penetration
Move as quickly as possible to 100% e-AWB with each
business partner engaged at the airport (single process
between airline and freight forwarder)
As an airline: Gradually engage all freight forwarders at
the airport
As a freight forwarder: Gradually engage all airlines at
the airport

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Regulatory and network constraints
Some countries have ratified MP4 and MC99 but have requirements
that are not favorable to e-AWB (e.g. ask for each and every shipment
the paper AWB)

IATA is maintaining an XLS file that provides an update for each
country regarding the e-AWB acceptance

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e-Cargo Matchmaker
The e-freight Matchmaker enables airlines, freight forwarders and GHA
to:
Publish their e-AWB capability per airport
Review the e-AWB capability of their business partners per airport,
which is a critical input to decide where, when and with whom going
live with e-AWB

This tool is available to all and its use is free of charge
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Reference materials
Learning:
e-AWB specifications:
Functional specifications e-AWB
Recommendation for ECC
Interlining with e-AWB
Recommendation for a pouch label
e-AWB videos
e-AWB e-learning module
e-AWB implementation toolkit

e-AWB agreements:
Multilateral e-AWB agreement
Recommended practice 1670
Support to deployment:
e-AWB scorecards
IATA Regional Workshops
Documentation of acceptance
of e-AWB in each country
e-Cargo Matchmaker

Visit www.iata.org/e-awb
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Thanks !
More information
www.iata.org/e-AWB
Questions at cargo@iata.org

e-AWB on-line training

http://www.iata.org/training/courses/pages/tcgp72.aspx