Launched in October 2021, 45% of bookings were made using the portal in April 2022, and Etihad Cargo is expecting to exceed 50% in the coming months.
Some markets have had very high adoptions rates with India leading the way at 95.8%, with Hong Kong and China in second and third place with 95.4% and 89.6%, respectively.
The portal offers a more streamlined booking process that requires minimal data entry, with users able to create and confirm bookings within 45 seconds.
Etihad Cargo developed the booking portal in collaboration with partners and customers, and features include booking templates and auto-suggestions for similar bookings.
Martin Drew, Senior Vice President – Global Sales and Cargo at Etihad Aviation Group says, “Since the launch of the new online booking portal, Etihad Cargo has added several new features that have made creating and confirming bookings easier and faster than ever before. The enhanced look-to-book feature and the addition of a dynamic newsfeed and personalised dashboards have created a more intuitive process, which has resulted in higher quality booking data and a reduced need for booking modifications.”
Etihad Cargo has also launched a Mandarin version of its website and booking portal to remove the language barrier for China, a key market.
Further digitalisation is planned, in Q2, customers will be able to create permanent bookings, and later in the year, online booking capabilities for more products and commodities will be added.