Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), a SATS company, has achieved Cargo iQ’s quality standards certification for its air cargo handling operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa & Asia (EMEAA). 

The accreditation covers some 50 major airport stations in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.

Supported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Cargo iQ is composed of some 60 major airlines, freight forwarders, ground handling agents, trucking companies, and IT solution providers globally. The group’s mission is to create and implement quality standards for the worldwide air cargo industry through a system of shipment planning and performance monitoring based on common business processes and milestones.

Developed by the industry, Cargo iQ’s Master Operating Plan (MOP) describes the standard end-to-end process of transporting air cargo and introduces standardised performance monitoring for the duration of shipment movements from consignor to consignee.

For WFS and other handlers, this incorporates key export milestones such as shipment acceptance into the warehouse, confirmation that shipments are ready for carriage and have been manifested, and departed. Using Cargo iQ’s quality processes for imports includes  receipt of the cargo off the flight, notifying freight forwarders that goods are available for collection, and then completion of delivery to the agent.

To be certified, companies must provide evidence Cargo iQ’s MOP is embedded in their operations, as well as how they manage reporting, and look to continuously improve performance standards. As part of the audit process, they must also demonstrate they have a training plan in place to ensure staff at every station understand and implement Cargo iQ’s requirements.

“Gaining Cargo iQ certification across our EMEAA region reinforces WFS and SATS’ commitment to improving our service quality and performance for our customers. Our full compliance with Cargo iQ’s processes allows us to standardise our approach across all our stations in the region and to deliver service levels our customers know and recognise,” said John Dowds, SVP Service Deliver – EMEA at WFS.  

“By implementing the Cargo iQ processes, we monitor our export and import operations in accordance with our customer SLAs in a live environment using the warehouse management screens in our facilities. This enables our warehouse managers to monitor performance in real-time and, when necessary, to reallocate resources or reprioritise tasks to meet customer targets,” he added.

The combined SATS and WFS network operates over 215 stations in 27 countries. These cover trade routes responsible for more than 50% of global air cargo volume.