BOSTON: August 29, 2018. As IATA reports a 1.9 percent rise in North America international airfreight traffic in July, as capacity rose 3.2 percent year-on-year, Delta Cargo has introduced e-AWB-based self-service shipping kiosks in Atlanta and Boston.

Delta says the iPad kiosks for US domestic bookings support IATA’s ongoing efforts reach 68 percent industry-wide acceptance in 2018 and 80 percent by 2020.

Since the start of the trial in Atlanta, the airline says it has seen a 94 percent increase in e-AWB bookings at its acceptance counters and will “shortly” add kiosks in New York (JFK) and Seattle. The e-AWB acceptance rate is 81.3 percent so far this year.

"The introduction of Delta Cargo's self-service experience contributes to a more environmentally friendly and simple booking process, while also providing expedited service to customers," declared Lindsey Jalil, managing director Commercial for Delta Cargo. "With initiatives such as this we are working towards our goal of achieving 100 percent e-AWB penetration in the United States by the end of the year and internationally in 2019."

As of March 2018 IATA says the industry-wide e-AWB network covers 66 percent of world trade at locations where the legal framework has been created to allow it, with an overall adoption rate of 53.1 percent.