Anna Balan Wins Young Airfreight Professional of the Year

Head of CargoBooking, Anna Balan, received the Young Airfreight Professional of the Year Award at the 2024 Air Cargo News Awards held in London, UK, on Wednesday 23rd October.

Balan heads up CargoBooking, a platform powered by Awery Aviation Software (Awery), and since 2022, has been played a vital role in CargoBooking’s subsequent success and wide adoption globally.

Starting her career in the air cargo industry in 2015 aged only 19, Balan has dedicated her career to making digital tools accessible across the industry, spearheading the launch of CargoBooking as an open-access platform last year.

Since then, the platform has seen exponential uptake, with more airlines, GSA/GSSAs, and forwarders signing up weekly.

“This recognition is a testament to both the success of the CargoBooking platform, and to the unwavering support from the CargoBooking and Awery teams,” said Balan.

The judges highlighted Balan’s contribution to advancing digital solutions in air cargo, driving efficiency and cost savings, and were particularly impressed by her dedication to encouraging the industry-wide adoption of digital tools.

“At CargoBooking, we are dedicated to showing stakeholders where technology can best serve our industry, and to that point, we are constantly working to develop our product in line with our clients’ needs.”

Balan was further commended for her role in developing CargoBooking’s eMagic tool, which is able to process shipment information from emails and texts into a standardised format using Artificial Intelligence.

Balan was unable to attend the awards ceremony due to travel restrictions, and instead submitted a short acceptance speech via video from her home in Kyiv, Ukraine. Vitaly Smilianets, Chief Executive Officer, Awery, collected the award on her behalf.