New eMagic tool speeds up air cargo booking

eMagic uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to process emails, texts, and images into standard data formats, reducing booking time from minutes to seconds

CargoBooking.aero has launched a new online tool at the Dubai Air Show today called eMagic, which converts emailed enquiries in different formats and languages into standard data formats, eliminating the need for manual processing.

eMagic can read different types of content, including email, text, and image and convert them into instant air cargo quotes using standard data formats such as JSON and IATA ONE Record.

The information is carried through to bookings, payments, and track and trace services, enabling air cargo booking platform CargoBooking to provide an end-to-end fulfilment solution.

“Market studies show that between 70 and 80 percent of cargo quotes, pre-bookings, space checks, and bookings are processed over email today,” said Tristan Koch, Chief Commercial Officer, Awery Aviation Software, which powers CargoBooking.

“The manual processing of thousands of emails with back-and-forth exchanges and long lead times for quoting and booking causes, not only delays, but also additional costs because of double data entry and data accuracy issues.

“Our eMagic solution reduces the booking process from minutes to seconds, pulling different types of data into a single readable format, and eliminating the need for costly and time-consuming manual inputting.”

The eMagic tool works by analysing the content of an email to identify the key elements needed for a quote, from customer details to cargo information, including origin, designation, number of pieces, gross weight and piece dimensions, commodity, Special Handling Codes and shipment-ready date.

A quote request is then created on the CargoBooking.aero platform, where users can review possible routes and prices, select options for the end-customer quote, check capacity, and review prices.

Once the information is selected, the end-customer receives a quote offer email with the contents of the original request now in standard format.

Confirmed bookings are created within the system of the airline or General Sales Agent.

CargoBooking developed the eMagic email parsing tool using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software working with Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

“The eMagic tool can be integrated with Outlook Office 365 and Gmail, and we have also developed a Chrome extension to enable users to create quotes from text,” said Vitaly Smilianets, Awery Aviation Software Chief Executive Officer.

“The tool can read emails with images and tables in multiple languages and convert the information into instant quotes.”

CargoBooking can connect to any airline and integrates via Application Programming Interface (API) with an airline’s operating, accounting, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.