Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) has forged a partnership with air cargo e-booking platform cargo.one, becoming the first Asian carrier to strike a deal with the platform, allowing freight forwarders to book and receive instant confirmation on its various services.

The Japanese all-cargo airline said in a statement that integration work will start later this year, with the launch set in the first quarter of 2020.

"The collaboration will enable freight forwarders to seamlessly book NCA’s vast main deck capacities on the platform with instant confirmation around the clock," the cargo airline noted, adding that offering its capacities for booking on cargo.one will also allow NCA to further expand its reach into the European market.

cargo.one will be utilizing the newly developed one.connect for the first time, further simplifying its integration processes with airlines. It will enable connections to a large number of airline legacy systems in a simplified manner.

“Joining cargo.one is a logical step for us in executing our digital strategy. It will enhance our customers’ experience and help us reach new customer segments. cargo.one has proven to be a reliable, innovative and fast-moving partner to a growing number of airlines and we are happy to take the lead as the first Asian carrier to join the platform” said Satoshi Shimura, vice president and head of business digitalization of NCA.

Moritz Claussen, managing director of cargo.one added: “As cargo.one’s footprint continues to expand globally, we are very happy to welcome our first Asian partner on board. NCA’s main deck capacities will further add to cargo.one’s attractiveness for freight forwarders, allowing us to increase demand on the platform which will, in turn, lead to more capacity distribution overall for those airlines partnering with cargo.one”.