AMERICAN AIRLINES CARGO OFFERS FLIGHT-SPECIFIC SERVICE

AMERICAN AIRLINES CARGO OFFERS FLIGHT-SPECIFIC SERVICE

   American Airlines Cargo said Tuesday it has launched a guaranteed, flight-specific product in Europe that enables freight forwarders to decide when their shipments fly.

   Expeditefs went live in Europe this month after a successful launch in the U.S. market in April. London, Manchester, Paris and Frankfurt are the first four stations to offer the new flight-specific product, and customers in Spain, Belgium and Switzerland will be able to use the service starting Oct. 1.

   American said Expeditefs 'goes against the airline industry trend of time-definite cargo services, and is the result of extensive research and development involving many of the airline's leading freight forwarder partners.'

   Carriers offering time-definite services change the customer's focus to when they want their goods to arrive at destination, because it gives the carriers flexibility over when flight departure they use,' said Steve Buckerfield, managing director of cargo sales, Europe. Instead, forwarders 'require flight-specific bookings in order to achieve the most efficient supply chain for their customers.'

   Flight-specific services 'increase operational awareness of the expectations placed on us,' said Doug Overett, U.S. operations director for Exel, one of the first customers for Expeditefs. 'There are other things we must do in the supply chain and flight-specific operations enable us to optimize the time available. Some carriers tend to build in some extra time 'padding' into time-definite services so the overall time chain is extended. With this service, we know exactly what's happening.'

   Expeditefs offers same-day connections to many U.S., Latin America and Caribbean destinations, and provides priority boarding and faster handling of customer loaded freight containers and bulk pieces of cargo up to 4,500 kilos in weight on American Airlines' direct flights ex Europe.

   American Airlines Cargo has also launched a second product, Confirmedfs, in Europe. The product enables shipments weighing up to 4,500 kilos to be transported to each gateway using container services and loose pieces of freight up to 135 kilos in weight are accepted for transfer to narrow-body flights, including American Eagle's network of more than 50 cities in the United States and Caribbean.

   Customers may monitor status of their shipments through American Airlines' Web-based cargo tracking system or through the airline's customer service representatives at key stations.