In an industry still driven by emails and manual workarounds, Aerios is betting that the next frontier of innovation lies in one of the least-digitised segments of airfreight: the charter market.
Founder and CEO Simon Watson believes real change starts by understanding how fragmented the process remains. “Right now, a lot of carriers manage the charter requests and quotation process using traditional processes—spreadsheets, paper, even basic calculators,” he said. “It’s a very conversational market: emails, WhatsApps, back and forth. That results in data being lost.”
By digitising these interactions and automating time-intensive steps, Aerios is helping carriers reclaim efficiency and capture insights. “Even just using the software in its current form has resulted in an increase of efficiency by about two-thirds for the carriers,” Watson said.
Aerios isn’t jumping on the AI hype—it’s applying machine learning to solve tangible operational gaps. “When someone comes on shift, the manual process might be going through dozens of emails. AI is good at summarising those notes and pulling out key highlights,” he explained. “We’re also using it to help summarise request and quotation data.”
By turning message-based workflows into structured insights, Aerios sees potential for AI to support smoother handovers, faster decision-making, and clearer reporting—without disrupting the relationship-driven nature of the charter world.
Sustainability through visibility
As ad hoc charters continue to grow, so do concerns over environmental efficiency. “Sustainability is at the top of mind for large carriers,” Watson said. “By nature, a charter creates an unscheduled flight, and, often, a depositioning flight that comes back empty.”
Watson sees an opportunity in surfacing those ‘dead legs’ to the market in real time, enabling other shippers to make use of unused capacity. “We want to maximise and pinpoint that availability and make it accessible.”
Aerios is now expanding its tools for both sides of the market. “We recently announced a partnership with CargoTech as our launch partner for the ferry application. Now we’re working with a number of brokerages and logistics businesses trialling our requester application,” Watson shared.
That tool aims to consolidate fragmented data points—carriers, schedules, and aircraft availability—to help brokers quickly identify the best-suited airline for any given request.
“We’re rolling out more airlines—both widebody and narrowbody—and working very closely with brokerages,” he added.
Meetings and momentum
Speaking at the World Cargo Symposium in Dubai, Watson noted the surge in charter interest into the US in recent months, likely in anticipation of geopolitical shifts and tariff impacts.
“A lot of shippers are preemptively bringing material and components into the US ahead of potential economic destabilisation,” he said. “That’s driven a sharp increase in charter demand.”
“This WCS event is great for reconnecting with industry peers. The focus on digitalisation and seeing where the market’s heading—it’s always good to check in and see what’s worth watching.”
