Unlocking Potentials for Airlines Worldwide

ULDs are an elementary part of aviation. Whether for baggage or cargo, they are needed for every containerized aircraft flight. Jettainer, one of the leading ULD service providers, guarantees for airline customers worldwide that the right units are always available in the right quantity at the right place. With offices at 15 major hubs in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, the company operates the most efficient ULD fleet across 500 locations, serving some of the largest and most prestigious airlines.

At a time when sustainability and digitalization are redefining the global aviation industry, companies need to be innovative and embrace change. And that’s exactly what Jettainer is doing, as Dr Jan-Wilhelm Breithaupt, CEO of Jettainer, explains: “Our IT solutions are key to always ensure the availability of ULDs for our customers while moving them as efficiently as possible. Intelligently collecting and analyzing data is at the heart of what we do. Our in-house developed IT solution JettWare provides transparent and real-time station inventory, ULD history and movement tracking as well as a variety of reporting options. Our advanced version, JettWare NG, already features initial artificial intelligence functions and will be continuously updated to provide even better workflow support. Thereby, we not only know exactly where the units are, but we also make the most efficient control decisions.”

Jettainer has developed an intelligent decision support system for ULD management in collaboration with universities. The system uses big data and machine learning to better understand ULD journeys and predict ULD imbalances allowing us to act rather than react. To further increase transparency and gain valuable insights into optimizing ULD usage time, Jettainer has created digital twins for each ULD in its fleet. Digital Twins are the home of all existing data of a ULD. They help to increase utilization, reduce maintenance costs, and deliver easy access to the huge amount of data that is or will be generated through digital tracking with IoT solutions, ONE Record integration, and legacy integration with CargoIMP to all important cargo handling systems.

Sustainability is a driver for change and innovation

According to the Jettainer CEO, the efficient use of ULDs plays a key role in making air cargo more sustainable, as ULDs should ideally never be moved empty, idle, lost or abandoned. The classic approach to optimizing utilization is efficient ULD management. “Moving ULDs around the world as efficiently as possible is our core competence. Our experts around the world are close to our customers’ operations. Combined with the use of technology and the exploitation of network synergies, we manage ULDs in such a way that imbalances can be mitigated and significantly fewer ULDs are needed in the first place.  In this way, we help our customers to save fuel, CO₂ as well as aircraft and storage capacity.”

By investing in lighter, yet more durable materials, Jettainer has also been able to reduce the need for repairs and spare parts. Jettainer’s Digital Twins in the ULD fleet also help to reduce repairs. Every step in the lifecycle of the ULDs can be tracked through the virtual copy to gain insights for continuous optimization. “Our engineering team, together with our partners, is continuously optimizing OEM processes to ensure that our containers are not only lightweight, but also strong and durable,” adds Dr Breithaupt. “This not only saves resources, but also extends the lifecycle of our products, which is crucial for a sustainable future.”

Responsible handling of ULDs is essential for flight safety

ULDs are an important and valuable resource. The industry should be more aware of the fact that ULDs are aircraft equipment providing safety cargo restraint in flight. Dr Breithaupt emphasizes: “The issue of damage to ULDs is very serious and causes high costs for the industry every year. Furthermore, ULD damage is also relevant to flight safety and workplace safety. We are working closely with manufacturers, MROs, and regulators to design ULDs to minimize the risk of damage. We are also actively engaged in the global industry association ULD Care and support all activities that promote the proper handling of ULDs.”