WiseTech opens CargoWise to GSSAs, pressuring air booking platforms

WiseTech expects more forwarders to book airfreight directly in CargoWise as it expands airline links and signs ATC Aviation as the first GSSA on AirlineConnect.

Desk: Supply Chain Technology
By: Marcus Bennett
Filed: Oct 9, 2026
Length: 445 words
Read: 2 min

Key points05

ATC Aviation Services is the first GSSA to connect to CargoWise AirlineConnect.
ATC Aviation is part of World Freight Company (WFC).
CargoWise users can search, compare and book services from ATC's represented airlines.
WiseTech expects more forwarders to book airfreight directly within CargoWise.
WiseTech is expanding airline connections and opening the platform to GSSAs.

WiseTech Global expects more forwarders to book airfreight directly inside CargoWise as it expands airline connections and opens the platform to general sales and service agents (GSSAs) — a shift that could deal a blow to independent air cargo booking platforms.

The first concrete step: ATC Aviation Services, part of World Freight Company (WFC), has connected to CargoWise AirlineConnect as the first GSSA on the system. The connection lets CargoWise users search, compare and book services from the airlines ATC represents, without leaving the forwarder's core operating system.

Why does this matter for forwarders?

For forwarders already running their operations on CargoWise, the move collapses the booking workflow into a single system. Instead of tapping a third-party marketplace or emailing a GSSA, users can search capacity, compare options and commit shipments where they already manage documentation, customs and billing.

That convenience cuts both ways for the wider market. Independent booking platforms have built their businesses on standing between forwarders and airline capacity. If WiseTech keeps adding airline and GSSA connections to AirlineConnect, those intermediaries face a competitor embedded in the software their customers use every day.

What changes for GSSAs and carriers?

For GSSAs, connecting to CargoWise is a defensive and offensive play at once. ATC Aviation, representing carrier portfolios through WFC, gains direct exposure to CargoWise's forwarder base — a distribution channel measured across the thousands of freight businesses that run on the platform.

Airlines represented by connected GSSAs get their capacity in front of booking decisions made inside the forwarder's system of record, rather than one screen among many on an external marketplace.

WiseTech's stated expectation that more forwarders will book airfreight directly within CargoWise signals where the company sees the trajectory: the platform aims to become the place air cargo capacity is bought, not just managed.

What pressure falls on independent platforms?

Independent air cargo booking platforms now confront a well-capitalized incumbent whose software already anchors forwarder operations. Their differentiators — multi-carrier search, rate comparison, booking execution — are precisely the functions CargoWise AirlineConnect now replicates with the GSSA connection model.

The open question is coverage. AirlineConnect's usefulness to forwarders depends on how many airlines and GSSAs WiseTech can sign. Each new connection, following ATC Aviation as the first, widens the moat around CargoWise as an end-to-end freight execution environment.

What comes next?

Expect the pace of airline and GSSA onboarding to decide the competitive outcome. If WiseTech sustains its expansion of AirlineConnect connections, forwarders will have progressively less reason to route air bookings through external platforms — and the independent booking sector will need sharper pricing, richer data or deeper carrier relationships to hold its ground.

Source: The Loadstar