While most of the digital initiatives in the air cargo are still revolving around reservations and customer gates, the most quieter, and possibly more transformative artificial intelligence is behind the scenes. In American Airlines Cargo, the predictive algorithms are now targeting a stubborn operational problem: shipping that does not appear as booked.
Beyond reservation
“We look at our reservation data, and we are actually making a decision, or we expect early, what our customers will actually show,” said Brian Hodges, head of the US Airways strategy. “They may tell us 1000 pounds, but we know through our artificial intelligence engine that it will be 900 or 1200.”
Interview with Brian Hodges: Watch the online video
The approach reflects the transformation from automating transactions to real operational prediction. Artificial intelligence is no longer simply identical to the inputs with operations, as it is correct for the lack of reliability of human estimates. “We are not necessarily focused on reservation,” Hodges said. “We look at anything that our people do in the warehouse, in communication centers with customer experience, and we are trying to turn this process into a digital process.”
According to Hodges, this system already lives. The reservation system modernizes the weights based on the expected contrast, and the delivery of delivery from the digital promise to material birth. “We will go ahead and only update our reservations to make sure that the operation is working as soon as possible,” he said.
Automation as an internal lever
A large part of the current automation in the American Airlines Cargo is invisible for customers. The focus is on the removal of friction in the rear processes, from reservation to accountability, rather than the invention of the front facades.
“We use automation and digitization to take any frequent task, especially those that can be subject to inaccurate or contradictions, we try to automate this to improve accuracy and time, and improve everyone’s function in general.”
This inner lens is also the formation of workforce planning. He said: “Anything we can do to free people’s time and energy through protective tasks or frequent tasks, we can actually open ingenuity.” “All he did leads to being able to go out, be more creative in the market, and find better solutions.”
At the present time, the strategy focuses on tools that reduce error, pressure the course times, support human decisions, not replace them. As Hodges said: “We are actually measuring ourselves in general to work … from how to make reservations on how to reserve trucks, to how to solve things at the end of the back.”
From manual tasks to solving human problems
One of the clearest results of the American digital strategy was a shift in how the front lines teams used its time. Instead of removing employees, automation is designed to free them from low -value tasks.
“Our philosophy, especially on the side of the operation, is that anything we can do to free time and energy through evil tasks or repeated tasks, we can actually open ingenuity,” Hodges said. “Their ability to address problems in the warehouse for customers.”
This is less than reducing employment than re -customizing the work. “They are using their time better,” Hodges added. “We have looked at the repetition of this everywhere we can.”
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