
For the speed -providing manufacturer, Air Cargo is sure to take time when it comes to digitization. At the Tiaaca Executive 2025 summit in Hong Kong, a committee of the informed has not been declined. Instead of celebrating the landmarks of high technology, deal with the uncomfortable truth: air cargo is still stuck in old habits, fragmented systems, and fear of change.
It was moderated by Kai Domscheit, CEO of Chi Deutschland Cargo Holdling GmbH. Mauritz Klausen, co -founder and administrative director of Cargo.OONE; David Linford, VP Sales & Account Management at Champ Cargosystems; And Simon NG, CEO of Global Logistics System (HK), Ltd. Through the discussion, the celebration of digital success appeared, but rather an explicit diagnosis of stagnation, friction and deep structural frequency in change.
Digital promise, the truth of manual
Despite decades of calls for reform, air cargo is still marred by old operations. David Linford did not actually take off sugar. He said: “We are still very driven. There are a lot of hands that touch everything. There is duplication,” he said.
Mauritz Klausen chanted this frustration. “The digitization was often mixing digital tools,” he said. “Just because you have a PDF or Excel file, it doesn’t mean that you are digital.”
For Andress Lam, the challenge is not a lack of tools, but rather integration. “Every airline has its own digital flight. There are no single sizes suitable for everyone,” he pointed out. “But what we need is to make the systems talk to each other.”
Simon Ng was more direct in his criticism to crumb the industry. “We need to unify the operations. Otherwise, each partner is just building their own silo.” The repeated topic was that resistance to change is more cultural than technology.
Cloocin clearly: “She does not suffer from air charging from the technology problem. It suffers from a problem of decision -making.” He added: “Most companies are not digitally ready, because their organizations are not aligned. Digitization is not a project for information technology. It is a rethinking of the business model.”
Lam talked about the stalemate inside the organizations. “Sometimes, they don’t want to change. They are afraid of disruption or failure,” he said. “But lack of change is a greater danger.”
Simon Ng agreed that the internal imbalance is a hidden killer for progress. “We always say that we want to be digital, but then we ask people to send Excel files,” said a dry, dry laugh.
Linford highlighted that even goodwill efforts can bring in reverse results without judgment. “You need criteria, you need commitment. Otherwise, you end up with five platforms that do the same badly.”
The susceptibility of inter -operational or unrelated operation?
When the conversation turned into solutions, the inter -operating process appeared in the foreground. Chlousen issued a clear warning: “If we don’t make operating systems, we will leave behind.”
The audience has challenged the thinking behind the platforms and the application programming interface: “The real interconnection capacity means commercial compatibility. It means the common value. At the present time, the incentives are broken.”
Lam added that although Cathai is paying for open standards, cooperation at the level of industry is necessary. “If we don’t move together, we will not move away.”
NG suggested a stronger role for organizers and associations. “Sometimes, we need a boost. Voluntary cooperation only goes to this extent.”
Supporting many challenges is a deeper problem: data control. Linford raised concerns about data ownership and abuse. “People are afraid that once their data is shared, they lose control,” he said.
Close criticized this mentality. “Data extract is defeated himself. The data value comes from use, not ownership,” he said. “If everyone is guarding their data, we all lose.”
Lam noted that transparency should come with confidence. “We need digital confidence frameworks. Not only is technology, but also governance.”
NG agreed, but indicated that the industry was not matured. “In many places, the quality of the data is still very bad so that it cannot be built on it. First, we must fix the basics.”
In the end, the committee sent a clear message: digitization is not a challenge to technology, but rather a leadership. It is not about applications, applications or platforms programming facades, but about alignment, cooperation and courage.
With Clucin summarizing: “If we want success, we must stop pretending to be digital just because we have programs. We need to rethink the way we work, not just the tools that we use.”