Air cargo quote automation that drafts a priced spot quote in the forwarder's own email thread — and a person sends it
Spot quotes in minutes, priced to the rule and the space on the flight.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Air cargo quote automation turns an emailed spot rate request into a priced, checked reply without re-keying — an air cargo auto quote that a person reviews and sends. Air Cargo Quote Automation puts seven agents on the sales mailbox: they read the request, fill what is missing from the shipper's history, check belly space, price it on the contract or the spot rules, have a second agent re-compute it, and leave the drafted reply in the email thread for a cargo sales agent to send.
How to choose AI for airlines: a buyer's guide to agentic AI solutions →
Updated
Air cargo quote automation starts where most spot business still arrives: an email to the sales mailbox, often sent to two or three carriers at once. A cargo sales agent re-keys it, works out the chargeable weight, finds the forwarder's contract, phones capacity control about belly space, asks pricing for a spot rate and adds fuel, security and handling surcharges. That is 20 to 40 minutes when nothing is missing, hours when the dimensions or the commodity are.
Meanwhile the forwarder books whoever answered first with a price it could believe. The errors sit in the rush: a contract applied to a commodity it excludes, an old fuel band, volume weight missed on light cargo, space promised on a flight that is already full, and cargo that cannot fly on a passenger aircraft quoted, accepted by the customer and refused at acceptance.
Estimated split for one emailed spot request on a belly-cargo lane, by hand and with the solution; waiting for capacity control and pricing is most of the time by hand.
Seven agents read, complete, check space, price and re-check every request; a sales agent sends.
Tuesday, October 20, 09:02. Felix Brenner of Halden Logistik in Frankfurt asks Corvane Cargo for 2 pallets, 1,240 kg, Frankfurt to Chicago O'Hare on Thursday, perishables — and sends the same request to two other carriers. Here is how Nina Albrecht works it with the agents, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Nina's day opens on four numbers: 46 requests read since 06:00, 9 that need her, 6 follow-ups drafted and a 52-second median from email to draft. Halden is first because the forwarder also asked two other carriers. Five small on-contract quotes are ready to send in one go.
Request reader: “Halden’s perishables quote is the most urgent: the forwarder sent it to other carriers too.”
The thread opens on Felix's email with the words the agents read highlighted. Lane FRA → ORD, 2 pieces, 1,240 kg, fly Thursday Oct 22, ready Wednesday evening — each value carries the agent that read it and opens its sentence. Under the email the drafted reply is already waiting, marked “Ready for you”.
The email gave no size, commodity or temperature. Halden's last 9 shipments to Lakeview Fine Foods in Chicago were chilled cheese, 2–8 °C, two Euro pallets at 120 × 80 × 150 cm, so the agent fills them at 94% confidence. Volume weight is 480 kg, so 1,240 kg is the chargeable weight. The reply asks Felix to confirm the pallet size.
The Shipment completer fills only above 85% confidence, always asks the forwarder to confirm, and never fills dangerous-goods details.
CV 931, the Thursday 10:05 777-300ER, is allowed 17,600 kg; with 13,180 booked and 15,140 forecast (86%), 2,460 kg and 3 of 14 pallet positions are free. The 150 cm pallets fit the 160 cm height limit and the FRA cool center has 6 places Wednesday night. CV 933 has only 800 kg; Friday's CV 935 is the alternative.
Halden's rate agreement CR-2026-114 covers general cargo only, so the spot rules apply: base $2.36, fuel $0.62, security $0.16, perishable handling $0.28 — $3.42 per kg, $4,240.80. The Checker re-computed it alone from the tariff and agrees, and wrote the FDA prior notice and ACAS notes into the reply. Nina asks “Why $0.62 fuel?” and gets the band with its source.
Rate agent: “Fuel is $0.62 per kg: the two-week jet fuel average was $2.41 a gallon, which is band 7 of the fuel table, in force since Monday Oct 19.”
The base rate opens in place with its rule, the floor of $2.05 and a reason code. At $2.30 the quote becomes $3.36 per kg, $4,166.40 — $0.06 below the agents' base, inside her $0.10 authority, so she picks a reason before sending. Further down it goes to the sales manager or, below the floor, to the pricing analyst. She keeps the agents' price.
Fuel and security follow the published tables for every customer and cannot be edited per quote.
Nina keeps “Hold space on CV 931” ticked and sends at 09:05: hold H-7714 keeps 1,240 kg and 2 positions until Wednesday 12:00. At 09:41 Felix confirms the booking and the pallet size. The Follow-up agent re-checks space and drafts the confirmation with AWB 486-1774 2051; Nina books it, and the hold becomes booking B-30418.
Nothing leaves without a person: the agents draft, Nina sends, holds and books.
Nordhafen Spedition asked for 4 cartons, 410 kg of lithium ion batteries, UN3480, to Washington Dulles. Shipped on their own they are cargo aircraft only under IATA DGR PI 965, and Corvane flies passenger aircraft only. The Checker blocked the quote and drafted a polite decline for Nina to send; only the dangerous goods specialist can override.
Rhenvia accepted at 08:41, so a booking from hold H-7702 is drafted for Nina's yes. Sarto Logistics countered with another carrier's offer of $3.05 all-in; the agent drafted $3.17, within Nina's authority, and sent $3.05 — below the floor — to Marcus Bell. Danubia and Tessaro have nudges ready after 26 and 30 hours without a reply.
Thursday perishables from Frankfurt lost 9 of 14 quotes above $3.55 on price in four weeks, against a market median of $3.48. The Quote reporter proposed cutting the Thursday peak for perishables from +$0.12 to +$0.08 per kg, with its evidence. No agent changes a rule: it waits as A-215 for Marcus Bell, the pricing analyst.
The same quote request, seen by four of the people who carry it — what the morning looked like, and what it looks like now.
Seven agents read, complete, check space, price and re-check every request; a sales agent sends.
Reads every quote request from the sales mailbox, the booking portal and pasted phone or chat notes in five languages; extracts lane, pieces, weight, dimensions, commodity, handling codes and dates, each cited to its sentence; finds duplicates.
Fills missing dimensions, commodity and temperature from the shipper's own shipment history, works out chargeable weight against volume weight, and writes the line asking the forwarder to confirm.
Reads belly capacity on every candidate flight after the passenger load forecast — weight, volume, pallet positions, height limit and cool-room space — and proposes a hold and a cheaper alternative flight.
Prices on the forwarder's contract first and on the spot rules when the contract does not cover the shipment; builds the price chips with the rule behind each, offers the alternative flight and shows the chance of acceptance.
Re-computes every price from the raw tariff without seeing the Rate agent's answer, and checks contract scope, floor, authority, dangerous goods, embargoes, screening, FDA prior notice and ACAS.
Reads every reply; drafts nudges, counters within authority, re-quotes and booking confirmations; turns accepted holds into bookings and watches expiring holds.
Reports conversion, time to quote, spot revenue won and losses by reason, and proposes spot rule changes with their evidence.
Sends every quote. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask the agents from any screen, or inside the quote's own thread. Every answer points to the email, rule or capacity snapshot it came from.
Why is Halden's quote $3.42 per kilo?
Halden's contract CR-2026-114 covers general cargo only, so perishables go to spot: base $2.18 + Thursday $0.12 + load 86% $0.06 = $2.36, plus fuel $0.62, security $0.16 and perishable handling $0.28. The Checker got the same on its own.
Which quotes could we lose this morning?
Three. Sarto Logistics books another carrier at noon unless we answer $3.05; a $3.17 counter is drafted and $3.05 is with Marcus Bell. Danubia and Tessaro have not replied for 26 and 30 hours; nudges are drafted.
How much space is left on CV 931 Thursday?
2,460 kg and 3 lower-deck positions after the passenger forecast; the flight is forecast at 86%. Halden's 1,240 kg fits. CV 933 has only 800 kg; Friday CV 935 has 1,500 kg after holds.
Why do we lose Thursday perishables?
Price: 9 of 14 Thursday perishable quotes above $3.55 were lost in 4 weeks, while the market median is $3.48. The Quote reporter proposed a lower Thursday peak for perishables; it waits for Marcus Bell's signature (A-215).
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Authority, thresholds, quoting rules and reply times are settings the business owns, saved as new versions and read by the Checker on every quote.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Sales agent below the agents' base | $0.10 per kg, with a reason code | Any amount per kg · reason codes: match a competing offer, volume commitment, key account relationship, win back a lane, correct a pricing error |
| Sales manager below the agents' base | $0.25 per kg | Any amount per kg |
| Shipments that need the sales manager | Above 5,000 kg chargeable | Any chargeable weight |
| Below the floor and rule changes | Cargo Pricing Analyst signs | The role that signs |
| Fill missing details from history only above | 85% confidence | Any confidence level |
| Who sends | A person, always | Fixed — agents never send to a forwarder |
| Quote validity and hold length | 24 hours · hold to noon the day before departure | Hours, subject to space · hold length |
| Ready-to-send lane and first reply | Under 500 kg, on contract, no special handling · first reply within 30 minutes | Any weight · any reply time in office hours |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate of where the minutes go · “typical” = published figures (a cargo booking software vendor — 70–80% of air cargo quotes, pre-bookings, space checks and bookings processed over email). IATA TACT chargeable weight (6,000 cm³ per kg), IATA DGR PI 965, FDA prior notice (21 CFR 1.279), CBP ACAS (19 CFR 122.48b) and TSA cargo screening (49 CFR 1544.205) are named as context only. Corvane Airways, Corvane Cargo, the forwarders, flights, quotes and people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Air cargo quote automation turns an emailed spot rate request into a priced, checked reply without re-keying — an air cargo auto quote that a person reviews and sends. Air Cargo Quote Automation puts seven agents on the sales mailbox: they read the request, fill what is missing from the shipper's history, check belly space, price it on the contract or the spot rules, have a second agent re-compute it, and leave the drafted reply in the email thread for a cargo sales agent to send.
The Shipment completer charges the greater of actual gross weight and volume weight, at 6,000 cm³ per kg. On the sample quote, two pallets of 120 × 80 × 150 cm give 480 kg of volume weight, so the 1,240 kg actual weight is chargeable. On a German request for machine parts, the 1,620 kg volume weight was chargeable over 1,020 kg actual.
Yes — air cargo email quotation is what it is built for. The Request reader reads email, booking portal requests and pasted phone or chat notes in English, German, Italian, French and Spanish, cites every value to its sentence and finds duplicates. The reply is drafted in the forwarder's language, but a person sends every one.
The reply shows the price as chips the forwarder can compare: base rate (from the contract, or the spot rules when the contract does not cover the cargo), then the fuel and security surcharges from the published tables and any special handling such as perishables. Every chip names its rule, and the sales agent can ask why any charge was chosen. On the sample quote that is $2.36 + $0.62 + $0.16 + $0.28 = $3.42 per kg all-in.
The Space checker reads each candidate flight after the passenger load forecast — weight, volume, pallet positions, height limit and cool-room space — offers a cheaper alternative flight when there is one, and proposes a hold. The sales agent decides whether to hold, and an accepted hold becomes a booking only on her yes.
Yes. The Checker blocks quotes for cargo that cannot fly on a passenger aircraft — such as lithium ion batteries shipped alone (UN3480, IATA DGR PI 965) or a piece taller than the lower deck allows — and drafts a decline or a question instead. It also checks screening and writes FDA prior notice and CBP ACAS notes into replies for food bound for the US.
Yes. The agents draft and never send, hold, book, release space or change a rule. A price below the agents' base needs a reason code; the sales manager signs larger discounts and shipments over 5,000 kg, and only the pricing analyst signs below the floor or approves a rule change.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your spot rules, surcharge tables, rate agreements and a sample of past quote requests — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. First-time setup includes a trial on 200 past requests, quoted without seeing the desk's answers and compared with them.
Every kilo sold at what it is worth, with the reason on every published rate.
1-min demoAir Waybill Data ValidationEvery waybill right before acceptance: fewer holds, and the bill matches the freight.
1-min demoDangerous Goods Acceptance CheckEvery Shipper's Declaration checked against the current DGR before a person signs.
1-min demoWe'll run Air Cargo Quote Automation on a sample of your own past quote requests, contracts and spot rules.