Air charter broker Avico has started listing freighter capacity with online marketplace Airblox, a fintech platform that enables brokers, freight forwarders, and airlines to trade cargo capacity.

It allows them to do so in the form of standardized electronic Block Space Agreements (eBSAs™). A block space agreement (BSA) is the purchase of an agreed capacity or space on the flight of an airline or a carrier.

"This is a collaborative alliance as we create the world’s first digital cargo capacity exchange, where air cargo capacity can be traded as eBSAs™," said Edip Pektas, founder, Airblox.

"As the leading French air broker with over 26 years experience in chartering, Avico is a perfect fit to join our growing community of airlines, General Sales Agents, and freight forwarders benefitting from our air cargo capacity."

Airblox users can bid for an eBSA™ by submitting offers on single or multiple lanes where the seller can review and accept the lane to the bidder of their choice.

Users can also buy space, purchase on single or multiple lanes, or block space, reserving single or multiple lanes for a partial premium of the purchase price set by the seller.

"We are aiming to optimize the capacity we are chartering and create value on otherwise empty legs on behalf of our customers across the air freight community, even for ad hoc flights," said Sébastien Drieu, cargo director, Avico.

"If we charter a freighter to transport oversized cargo, for example, our customers will benefit from us being able to make use of capacity, which would otherwise not be used.

"At the same time we are creating new opportunities for the airfreight community worldwide and adding value to the market," Drieu added.

Avico noted that buyers of the capacity of any size can bid for, buy outright, or block space from the holder of a BSA electronically using Airblox’s eBSAs™.