IPC’s e-billing initiative exceeds targets
An International Post Corporation (IPC) initiative promoting the use of electronic billing between postal operators and airlines has exceeded targets. The Future of Mail by Air (FoMbA) programme has enabled a 16% transition from paper delivery bills to an electronic method.
The statistics have been formulated from 127 routes worldwide in only one year.
Announced at the 2011 IATA World Cargo Symposium, the achievement surpasses the 10% target set for 2010 by six percentage points.
An IPC statement said: “The success of IPC’s Future of Mail by Air initiative underlines the instrumental role IPC plays in streamlining international air mail.
“FoMbA is driving the substitution of time-consuming, error-prone manual handling of delivery bills with the automated processing of electronic data exchanged between airlines and postal operators, generating substantial efficiencies for all parties.”
FoMbA systems are developed in house by IPC to improve business processes and increase reliability, enhance visibility and provide electronic audit trails for posts and airlines alike, ultimately reducing operating costs.
Commenting on the results, Ross Hinds, IPC’s director of operations and technology, said: “The results demonstrate how posts and airlines are both benefiting from greater collaboration, translating into postal operators becoming lower cost customers for airlines, and airlines high quality service suppliers to posts.”
Having exceeded their 2010 target, FoMbA participants agreed upon a challenging 35% target by March 2012.
