We sit down with Tristan Koch of Awery Aviation Software an chat about the urgent need to modernize air cargo technology. This story highlights the transition from legacy systems to intuitive automation and explains how open data sharing creates a transparent equitable global supply chain.
For decades, the air cargo sector operated quietly in the shadows of the passenger airline business. It was viewed as a secondary enterprise and suffered from a severe lack of technological investment. However, the global disruptions of recent years fundamentally shifted this perspective. Airlines rapidly realized they possessed a highly valuable profitable business. This awakening sparked a renewed interest in logistics technology, but the broader industry remains stubbornly tethered to highly complex legacy systems.
How do we move forward from here? It is a question I posed to Tristan Koch, the Chief Commercial Officer of Awery Aviation Software, over the course of a free-wheeling conversation. For one, Tristan highlighted the behavioral challenges associated with digital adoption. He noted a fascinating irony in how logistics professionals interact with technology. In their personal lives, these veterans seamlessly use intuitive mobile applications to book a cinema experience or hail a ride home.
Yet when presented with a streamlined software interface at work, they instinctively resist. They often view the ability to navigate complicated legacy systems as a core component of their professional identity. Tristan explained that overcoming this resistance requires extensive change management. It is about clearly demonstrating that intuitive digital interfaces do not replace human jobs, but rather eliminate tedious manual labour, in the process allowing the entire global supply chain to function with much greater harmony.
A massive barrier to achieving this harmony is the deeply ingrained habit of working in isolated silos. Shippers, forwarders, and airlines have historically made decisions based solely on proprietary data holding their cards close to their chest due to fears over commercial sensitivity. This lack of transparency leads to immense operational waste. Awery tackles this challenge by acting as a secure digital middle ground. They efficiently absorb and transmit crucial operational data without compromising sensitive commercial pricing margins.
Crucially, the company strictly refuses to charge users for this basic information exchange. Tristan laid out a clear vision, firmly arguing that the free and fair flow of operational data is the absolute bedrock of a true digital democracy. By removing financial barriers to information, smaller airlines and independent forwarders instantly gain the exact same operational visibility as massive global conglomerates, thus levelling the competitive playing field.
Despite these clear advancements, a surprisingly antiquated tool remains the primary mode of communication across the freight landscape. The humble e-mail still dictates the daily pace of global trade. A single request for a freight quote can easily trigger a chaotic cascade of messages bouncing between shippers, forwarders, and multiple airlines. This highly fragmented communication process often takes several days to resolve and is incredibly susceptible to human error. It frequently resembles a frustrating game of Chinese whispers where vital cargo dimensions and precise weights get completely lost in translation causing massive downstream delays.
To combat this pervasive inefficiency, Awery introduced an intelligent system designed to create one single unshakeable source of truth. When a request email lands in an inbox, their software instantly reads and translates the text, automatically querying airlines and generating instantaneous quotes. This robust automation ensures vital information is captured perfectly at the point of source, thus preventing frustrating billing discrepancies and chaotic warehouse confusion further down the line. They have even developed intelligent voice tools that listen to telephone inquiries in real time, translating spoken requirements into actionable digital workflows.
Yet, even with powerful automation readily available, many airlines remain hesitant to give a machine total autonomous control over pricing and capacity. Tristan traces this anxiety back to the passenger aviation revolution twenty years ago. When general distribution systems first moved passenger ticketing to the internet, airlines temporarily lost control of their own inventory. Veteran cargo executives remember those hard lessons and strongly prefer to keep a human hand on the final digital lever.
However, this cautious approach has a definitive expiration date. As a younger, entirely digitally native generation enters the logistics workforce they will simply refuse to perform tedious manual data entry. Embracing seamless automation is therefore no longer just a strategic advantage, but an unavoidable demographic necessity.
As an aside, Tristan is a huge cricket buff, with a remarkably impressive and encyclopaedic knowledge of the game. When comparing Harry Brook’s sensational century to Tendulkar’s legendary ‘Desert Storm’ innings, he was quick to recall it being the Coca Cola Cup. Further cricket chatter revealed he flew in early to catch the West Indies v Zimbabwe game at the Wankhede. We wish the Three Lions every success in the T20 World Cup, including a robust performance if they come up against the Boys in Blue…so long as it’s in an Indian win!
