Unisys Corporation announced that American Airlines Cargo division plans to join Unisys-operated Cargo Portal Services (CPS). CPS is a leading electronic booking and shipment management service for the air cargo industry.
American's participation gives the company's air cargo clients a free, Web-based facility to manage bookings and track shipments through a neutral portal.
"When we developed our e-commerce strategy several years ago, we set out to provide solutions that robustly address the specific needs of each customer segment," said Dave Brooks, president, American Airlines Cargo.
"Joining CPS is an extension of that plan which is proving to be very successful. CPS offers tested and proven technology that has been embraced by many of our valued customers, and allows American to provide additional channels for those who want to do more business online."
American Airlines Cargo capacity totals more than 6.1 billion pounds and the cargo airline has nearly 200,000 flights available annually.
E-business channels such as CPS offer productivity enhancements for American Airlines and its customers, and are designed to save customers money by enabling reductions in transactional costs and other expenses.
"This industry continues to face a chicken-or-egg challenge with forwarders and airlines each wanting the other to do or to offer more business online," said Christopher Shawdon, vice president of Logistics Solutions at Unisys. "With the addition of American Airlines' large network to CPS, their clients and the CPS forwarder community will have more choice, therefore increasing the availability of e-business in the industry for booking, tracking, customs and new services."
Unisys development and operation of CPS is part of the company's strategy to give businesses and governments greater visibility into their global supply chains. Within its logistics portfolio and under separate agreements, Unisys also serves many of the world's major air cargo organizations through its Logistics Management System, Hosting and Integration Services and In-transit Service Manager solutions.
