IATA "e-freight" goes live in Zurich

Switzerland has taken an important step designed to reduce the costs
and improve the speed and reliability of air cargo: Zurich Airport
was in fact the first location to become "IATA e-freight capable" in
2009. In the second half of February the first e-freight compliant
transactions were performed on the trade lanes between Zurich Airport
and Chicago, Hong Kong, Singapore and London.

The introduction of the e-freight operational process at Zurich
Airport, led by Swiss WorldCargo, the cargo division of Swiss
International Air Lines Ltd., was accomplished in a remarkably short
time scale and involved the broadest representation of the local air
freight community.

Cargo carriers (Singapore Airlines Cargo, Air Canada), freight
forwarders (Lamprecht, DB Schenker, DHL Global Forwarding and
SPEDLOGSWISS), ground handling agents (Cargologic), the federal
office of civil aviation (BAZL) and customs authorities have all been
working closely with Swiss WorldCargo and the IATA e-freight team for
the successful and timely launch of the initiative.

An important role was also played by the ground handling agents at
destination, namely Lufthansa Cargo in Chicago, Singapore Airport
Terminal Services and Swissport in Singapore and London, and AAT in
Hong Kong.

"All the parties involved in the local logistics chain will now be
able to exchange their consignment details online. This significant
step in improving data quality and efficiency, will further
strengthen the leading role of Switzerland as a hub for urgent,
sensitive and high value cargo," says Oliver Evans, CCO, Swiss
International Air Lines.

Participants in the project have been very positive on the approach
and potential of the project:

Markus Loeffler, Business Service & Quality, Swiss WorldCargo
"SWISS has supported e-freight from its inception, and we can
certainly be proud that we have given our contribution to move the
industry forward to a new, more efficient era."

Markus Keller, Director Airfreight, Lamprecht Transport Ltd.
"e-Freight" stands for paperless airfreight management and represents
a big step towards simplification of processes - important
requirements for the forwarding industry, in particular for a
medium-sized, family-owned company, to remain competitive. For the
customer this means an improved quality of data, an efficient supply
chain und a higher level of customer service".

Hans Schütz, Product Manager Airfreight, Schenker Switzerland Ltd.
"We are excited to be part of the e-freight pilot project in
Switzerland. DB Schenker has been actively involved in the programme
right from the beginning. In the Netherlands, Germany, Canada,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Australia and the UK, DB Schenker has
already successfully introduced paperless airfreight handling."

Christoph Jeanneret, Head Operations Air & Ocean, DHL Global
Forwarding Switzerland
"With our trial shipment from Switzerland to Hong Kong we managed
our first live e-freight transaction successfully. We left the first
stepping stone on our path to a more digital and less paper-bound way
of air freight transportation. This fits well in with various other
DHL initiatives and our global involvement with e-freight
and its pilot shipments."

Thomas Schwarzenbach, Vice Director - Reto C. Wieser, Chairman
Airfreight Division and Member of the Board of Directors,
SPEDLOGSWISS
"As the Swiss national freight forwarders association we are honoured
to be part of this important project for the air cargo industry. All
forwarders involved in the project are members of our association and
helped to start e-freight in Zurich together with our partners at
airlines, customs, ground handling agents and IATA. This is what we
would call an efficient sharing of know-how."

Walter Burri, Country Manager Switzerland, Singapore Airlines Cargo
"We are at the beginning of an exciting development in Switzerland's
airfreight industry. We at Singapore Airlines Cargo, with a leading
role in the process of e-shipments in and out of Singapore, are
pleased to see that all Swiss participants have demonstrated the
willingness to move forward together along this road and hopefully
during this journey to convince other participants to join-in, who
can further help with their contributions to modernize the airfreight
industry".

Rolf Holderegger, Cargo Sales & Service Manager Switzerland and
Southern Europe, Air Canada
"Air Canada fully supports the introduction of e-freight ex
Switzerland. Air Canada has already started successfully e-freight
shipments to/from Canada to London. Toronto and Vancouver are
certified e-freight stations and Montreal should follow in due
course. It is one of Air Canada's main objectives to move forward
with this paperless way of shipping, and we look forward to
implementing in Zurich when we have the green light to expand the
number of participants in Canada."

Annelis Krebs, Information & Technologies, Cargologic Ltd
"It was an excellent experience to get e-Freight on track in Zurich.
E-freight shows us the importance of a proper data flow, and we are
looking forward to seeing it as a common standard!"

About e-Freight
IATA's overall aim is to ensure that air cargo consignments are
handled electronically as extensively as possible by the end of 2010.
This will save a vast amount of paper - an annual volume that would
fill 80 Boeing 747-400 freighters, the association has calculated. It
should also provide the partners in the logistics chain with a
worldwide net benefit of USD 4.9 billion a year - provided all these
partners are electronically linked up and are prepared to make the
switch to the paperless handling approach.

For further information please visit:

http://www.iata.org/pressroom/facts_figures/fact_sheets/e-freight.htm

About Swiss WorldCargo
Swiss WorldCargo is the air freight division of Swiss International
Air Lines Ltd. With a global network of more than 150 destinations in
over 80 countries and a wide range of services offered, Swiss
WorldCargo generates true added value for its customers and makes a
substantial contribution to the earnings power of Swiss International
Air Lines Ltd.

Note to editors:
For further information about Swiss WorldCargo, pictures and
interview requests please contact:

Bernd Maresch
Director
Head of Marketing & Strategy
bernd.maresch@swiss.com
Phone +41 44 564 50 50
Please visit www.swissworldcargo.com

The media release can be downloaded from the following link:

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