Geopolitics have resulted in a highly volatile 2026 for air cargo so far – schedules and networks constantly change, carriers pull capacity from certain markets at short notice and then ramp it back up just as quickly, and regulations and revenue environments shift too. Long-term strategy planning is essential, but it must be coupled with short- and medium-term agility, which has resulted in an upsurge in the quest for decision support tools, transparency and advanced data analytics capabilities. Many of CargoTech’s existing products help to bring greater clarity and decision support, and its members are on hand to guide companies through their digital transformation to fully benefit from the latest air cargo technology. “The problem isn’t usually a lack of data when it comes to planning,” says Cédric Millet, President of CargoTech. “It’s how fast a commercial team can act once the picture changes.”
”And as that picture is now also influenced by changing regulations and commercial factors, CargoTech is preparing to launch a compliance and sanctions tool within Rotate’s tech stack. It has been re-developed and enhanced with the cargo intelligence and experience,” Millet continues. “This is particularly exciting for us at CargoTech, since it signifies the continuation (after Skypallet by Wiremind and Cargo Quality by CargoAi) of our expansion into air cargo operations within an otherwise well-covered air cargo supply chain.”
As CargoTech’s products undergo continuous improvement to ensure tailored solutions, so does its customer portfolio. Alongside the many airlines, forwarders, GSSAs, GHAs and airports that have already implemented its software, CargoTech members are also seeing increased interest from charter operators, lessors, MRO and other stakeholders.
2026 is the year of Agentic AI
The pace of development is increasing. So, too, is the interest and understanding of the benefits of AI, which feature in CargoTech’s portfolio. Millet explains: “Agentic AI has now moved from paper ideation to live trials. Our more progressive customers are going into live trials where AI training and fine-tuning churn out better accuracy. Their next step involves change management and clarity on how human staff will co-exist with AI Agents, plus what new KPIs are required to track performance.”
Some of the AI capabilities within CargoTech’s products help to automate and digitise repetitive, time-consuming processes. Agentic layers are added to optimisation and machine-learning features to build on well-established systems supporting customers’ pricing, capacity and flight building decisions. They assist customers in centralising, standardising and automating processes that would otherwise vary by station and by individual, and they enable more efficient and accurate communication between all involved parties.
“The entire CargoTech ecosystem is built on AI capabilities, with the aim of bringing clarity, efficiency and accuracy into everyday processes,” Cédric Millet, President of CargoTech, concludes. “Just one example of how digital enhancement and collaboration within CargoTech have resulted in significant time savings for its customers is the Aerios Carrier Application, designed to improve ad hoc charter quoting. Aerios allows teams to receive an RFQ, build a quote using operational and commercial inputs from different departments and data sources, check loadability through Wiremind’s SkyPallet, assess current market rates through CargoAI and understand competitive capacity through Rotate. From there, the same workflow continues through contracting, service provider allocation, operational setup and invoicing. A clear, long-term gain is the data digitally captured throughout that process. However, the immediate benefit is an average quote time of less than 1 minute – down from tens of minutes!”
