Flyingtypers Cargo Talks!

   Something For A Summer Monday...After beating Hodgkin's lymphoma, San Francisco teenager Skyler Stoba got to wish for anything in the world.  Naturally, it was a toss- up between having lunch with Beyonce or seeing Buffalo Airways Cargo Second World War DC3 cargo aircraft. Yellowknife Canada-based Buffalo Airways, which operates a fleet of World War II-era aircraft carrying cargo shipments under government contract that are the aerial lifeline to a number of northern Canadian villages , have been featured on History Television's Ice Pilots NWT for several seasons. A Summer Monday Special continues with the latest Chapter ((1937)  of Steve Gibson Aviation Detective Series. Trip back in time just for fun, via Pan Am Clippers and short wave radio, through the eyes of a teenager who loves aviation. 

  As Virgin Cargo marked 30 years of service to the U.S., an intimate gathering in summertime Manhattan under the watchful eye of the glorious Empire State Building served as a celebration point. This was an understated fun event with local cargo people, who showed up and were shown a good time, with lots of great food and conversation in this splendid setting. Boxcars in the Sky written by the most important air cargo journalist of the 20th century Richard Malkin, was created in 1951 after Richard had just returned from covering the Berlin Airlift. Boxcars is a beautifully written, recently discovered short story predicting things to come , that today nearly 70 years later, for the most part has come true. 

   Lior Ron is a 42-year-old Israeli-born businessman, who in 2016 along with Anthony Levandowski and some others co-founded Otto, a self-driving truck company. Both Lior and Anthony went to work at Uber after Uber bought Otto in 2016. But then Anthony was fired from Uber after a dustup wherein the executive was accused of stealing Google’s self-driving car trade secrets for use in Otto’s technology.. Ron jumped from Uber after Uber paid Google parent company Alphabet $245 million to settle the dispute. Well, in 2019 Ron is back at Uber Freight, now that Uber has finally closed the deal for Otto Trucking that is currently operating as a stand-alone entity as part of the Uber firmament. In the USA, Uber Freight connects 48 states and reportedly generates more than $125 million in quarterly revenues. “We fundamentally believe there’s a new era of opportunity in logistics,” Ron said. “Technology streamlines things, connects things and that builds trust in physical networks.”   History & s

   News that the Cass Freight Index of North American Freight Volumes moved downward, another -5.3% in June adds up in USA and almost everywhere else to a slow dance of negative cargo volumes seven months in a row 2018/2019. The Cass Freight Index covers shipments of merchandise for the consumer and industrial economy via all modes of transportation, but it does not include bulk commodities, such as grains or chemicals.

  At Virgin A Really Big Change “Huge, and we are not underestimating or taking anything for granted,” said Dominic Kennedy, Virgin Atlantic’s Managing Director, Cargo. “Our entire business model is based on giving customers more choice and flexibility, whether this means more routes and frequencies, new products and services, or the ability to interact with us in the way they want to do business,” he said. “Now Virgin Atlantic Cargo is set to be the first airline to adopt Accenture’s cloud-enabled, end-to-end AFLS 8.0 cargo management platform to spearhead our future digital experience when AFLS 8.0 goes live in early 2020."  Amazon & Air Cargo In Focus The smile turned upside down as labor unrest complicates the world, according to Amazon. Bill Boesch has some answers: “The first thing to remember,” confides air cargo great Bill Boesch, “is that Amazon is not an airline but a unique e-commerce platform controlling its door-to-door operations to provide free next-day or 2-day shipping for

      It is unfortunate and maybe a bit  sad to see that a number of different agendas seem to driving the unrest at Amazon. Strike action is never a happy situation. In today’s world productivity is the key to success and in certain parts of the world, sorry to say, that there are people who just don’t seem to get that . . .  Delhi International Airport became the first airport in India to operationalize a dedicated Transshipment Excellence Centre (TEC). The initiative was taken by DIAL, as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) under the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 to develop Air Cargo Transshipment Hubs at major airports around the country.   “Changing the customer experiences from our interactions, products and services, and mastering the data challenge and driving innovation,” are the orders of everyday at Unilode,” said Benoît Dumont, Unilode  CEO. Meantime ULD Care Readies Annual Event.  We are dreamers, Montreal? Septe

Where is air cargo in Summer 2019? To hear some people tell it we have gone through the best of times into the worst. No doubt, last month in Munich at Air Cargo Europe people were into the wurst. But seriously where are we now? First in a roundup report we note that air cargo rates continue to see weekly volatility, but with the demand outlook tepid and ample capacity available on most lanes, pricing continues to fluctuate, albeit within boundaries far below those enjoyed in 2018. Next we share some thoughts with Air Cargo legend Ram Menen, someone who has been there and done that, and now looks ahead.

Asked Turhan Ozen top cargo officer at Turkish Cargo how goes business and how was that big move from Ataturk Airport last month, and his reaction is a broad smile, not a weary one. The idea that an airline cargo division could pack up and move half of its operations from one airport to another now accomplished on time and apparently without a hitch, Turhan eases back in his chair and smiles.

        “TempControl’s transport of vaccines and other high-value biopharmaceutical shipments is increasing rapidly,” said Jan Krems, President of United Cargo as the carrier became the first U.S. flag to induct SkyCell temperature-controlled containers.  We celebrate Emery Air Freight's Richard Wiebe, who died on May 29. He was 94 years of age. Thinking about Dick in June 2019, must say he has shone bright in memory, though out of sight for some years now. But his decent kindness will remain with me forever.  Many people thought it odd that a book to save Building One at Newark Airport, titled "Great Airports Newark" and another a year later to save The Marine Air Terminal titled "Great Airports LaGuardia" would also carry the logo of Emery Air Freight. But one day at a meeting I mentioned to Dick that we should stand for something else in air cargo—and saving our airport history would be a good thing. Dick, as top corporate communications man for John Emery Jr. picked up t

   Great inspirational Super Summer 2019 ,or anytime story, from the great Marco Sorgetti... "Issa’s background is as remarkable as his success and this fascinates us immensely, so we want to do more than merely celebrate his success. Issa wrote once that “life is about mutual respect” and this is precisely what I believe he deserves. Let me see that his achievements gain a little space in the hearts of our listeners, too.We all know Issa Baluch is a man who has achieved a lot in his life, and not only in FIATA, which crowned him as its President in 2003. Issa is surely not a person to enter a room unnoticed. He is strong, rather tall, still wearing his masculine charm easily in 2019, despite the fact that the young logistics trailblazer he was in the ’80’s has now adjusted into the thoughtful professor and father to a large family while his own multifarious talents have safely landed onto the planet of talent-mentoring in more than one university across several continents."

   Qatar Airways delivered more punch to it's air cargo offering announcing purchase of five B 777 Freighters at Paris Air Show in a ceremony that included  His Excellency Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti, Qatari Minister of Transport and Communications. "This is an order that will propel our growth and, I firmly believe, confirms us as the leading cargo operator in the world.  " said His Excellency, Mr. Akbar Al Baker, CEO, Qatar Airways Group.   Ingo Zimmer, CEO of fast growing ATC, a big winner in the global GSSA game serving 75 airlines, passed up attending the “gala” Air Cargo Europe awards dinner Wednesday June 5 in Munich.      Ingo, as dynamic as he is tall at 6 foot 5, had a better idea, delivering a simple thank you to his customers in an extraordinary once in a lifetime setting. Air Cargo Europe bestowed another blizzard of air cargo awards at its “Gala Dinner in Munich.      Forgive our skepticism, but something about this rings a bit hollow when air cargo folks sit down to a $75 or $150-a-plate tra

Latest news that you can use out of Air Cargo Europe last week in Munich has Virgin Cargo making a huge investment in a new IT system to drive it's business forward from 2020. Elsewhere many happy returns as Achim Martinka takes commend of the vital cargo market in Germany for Lufthansa Cargo. United Cargo President Jan Krems gets it about challenging times and delivers the best quote we heard all last week about what to do as business 2019 marches on. Beautiful women artists in evening wear as supple musicians, softened the hard edge of a giant trade show as Qatar Cargo launched Air Cargo Europe on the right note.  Last chance maybe forever...The airplanes that taught air cargo how to fly are in Germany all this week and should not be missed. Is The Sky Falling? While the mood in Munich’s maze of exhibition halls last week was decidedly – perhaps surprisingly – upbeat, a deluge of negative data and forecasts were raining down.      And for what it is worth Chicken Little, Henny

    Airbus & SAS have  a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for hybrid and electric aircraft eco-system and infrastructure requirements research. The MoU was signed by Grazia Vittadini, Chief Technology Officer, Airbus and Göran Jansson, Deputy President EVP Strategy & Ventures, Scandinavian Airlines. Collaboration begins this month June 2019 and will continue until the end of 2020. 2020 Sulpher Cap Impact Beyond The High Seas For forwarders and shippers, the key challenge of the coming months will come from the higher costs that implementing new environmental shipping regulations will impose on global supply chains. From 1 January 2020, new International Maritime Organization regulations will put a 0.5% cap on sulfur content in marine fuels globally, down from a maximum of 3.5% now.  In EU it ain't  just all about Brexit! This year - 2019 – Climate Change has been high on many EU countries “priority” list; in Denmark – as in many other Nordic and EU countries – 56% of the Danish citizen said that “Cli

   If Elliott Paige had any better a handle on what it takes and what Atlanta has to offer as he explains the cargo fortunes of the giant southeastern USA gateway it could only be another revelation.. The Air Services Development Manager at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport is so smart and upfront about HJIA’s cargo program, you can go to school on the word picture he paints.   Bill Boesch started his career in global transportation and logistics in 1965 working for Seaboard World Airlines. He later joined Flying Tiger Airlines and Emery Worldwide.  If it sounds like Bill was present at the creation you will get no argument from us. Bill has held top posts all the way… At Pan American World Airways’ Senior Vice President he headed both Passenger and Cargo Sales and Operations. American Airlines Robert Crandall tapped Bill to serve as President of AA Cargo. When Bill retired from AA in 1998 he and his team had positioned AA as a world leader in the air cargo and logist

   Right now in Germany is emerging not only the most exciting but also going away the best GSSA operation in the world. Not only that but to listen at ATC CEO Ingo Zimmer, ATC has only just begun to continue its unprecedented growth plan that has seen the GSSA move from regional European services to ATC spreading it’s wings across America and Canada and into South America and now Asia in just the past five years.    Whatever you do this week whilst attending Air Cargo Europe in Munich, (June 4-7) do not allow the opportunity to enjoy a proper German white asparagus dinner slip by. White asparagus or spargel is a very short seasonal offering in Bavaria and it is everywhere this time of year, unique in the world, and so very delicious!    When we met with United Airlines’ France Cargo Sales Manager Laurent Bernet in a small, elegant hotel garden in Place Pigalle Paris recently, we discovered a seasoned veteran of the air cargo business. He’s worked both sides of the Atlantic; first at Fritz, where he did an in

   Up Close & Personal—A story that you have never heard before . . .  July 14, 1964:  More than a month ahead of the anticipated arrival of the Beatles at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), management of the Los Angeles Department of Airports had their first meeting with local disc jockey/nightclub owner/concert promoter Bob Eubanks, as well as representatives of the local police and fire departments to plan for two "B-Days" —code for days on which The Beatles would be at LAX.

  All Together Now  FIATA, the freight forwarders organization meets every Spring to listen, learn and share their experiences with friends and colleagues. The 2019 Annual headquarters meeting held in Zurich Switzerland was a unparalleled success. FIATA In Person Is Unbeatable  The unique atmosphere one breathes at the FIATA HQ – and even more so at the FIATA Congresses, which have 3 to 4 times more participants – is something you have to try yourself. Words are not enough to describe the endless opportunities and the meaningful encounters everywhere, anytime FIATA meets!  Even casual words seem to become meaningful in the end, thanks to FIATA. As I am proudly the one and only FIATA Fellow in the world, having been recognized and elevated at one of these sessions in 2016, I am proud to be a FIATA Fellow and keenly well aware of the efforts that are deployed to make these meetings great every year. Thanks to former FIATA Director General Marco Sorgetti here is a unique inside look as FIATA

  FlyingTalkers celebrates the start of Super Summer 2019 in the USA as Memorial Day is observed May 27. Here is a guide for everybody who loves aviation, and especially folks, that today live and work in air cargo,  Right on the heels of a major world gathering—Air Cargo Europe in Munich, Germany at Transport Logistik June 4-7, the 70th anniversary of the ending of The Berlin Airlift that saved a city, is being celebrated in grand style from June 10 until June 18 at Wiesbaden Air Base near Frankfurt and in Berlin. Be amazed . . . for the first time since 1949, more than 40 aircraft  from the Berlin Airlift, preserved and airworthy, will fly the original Berlin Airlift routes and later land at the airport and be accessible to the public to touch and feel, up close and personal.. Go to this address for more information:  https://foerderverein-luftbruecke-berlin-70.de/ Memorial Day Special continues with the latest Chapter ((1937)  of Steve Gibson Aviation Detective Series. Trip back in

       As he closes in on his second year of serving as President of American Airlines Cargo, it is fair to say that Richard (Rick) Elieson guided the freight fortunes of the world’s largest airline with a steady hand.      Rick Elieson is also a great photographer. Not just great because he knows how to handle a camera. In this age where everybody seems to be a phone photographer, Rick has the ability to snap stunning, original photos of wildlife in their natural settings. There is a great, if not slightly unknown and perhaps overlooked, industry event that meets September 16 until 19 as ULD CARE opens its 32nd Annual ULD CARE Conference in Montreal, Canada. For Urs Wiesendanger  President, ULD CARE, and Bob Rogers, VP & Treasurer, ULD CARE, kicking the cans has been a joyful lifelong obsession.      To Urs and Bob, the devices are eye candy on the hardstand.      "It’s always a beautiful thing

  Shippers planning for the summer peak season received a curve ball from President Trump earlier this month.  With only a few Presidential tweets of warning, the U.S.-China trade talks that optimists hoped would bring an end to confrontation and protectionism instead yielded an escalation as the U.S. raised tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200bn worth of Chinese imports. At Cargo Network Services (CNS) Partnership in Miami last week, we spoke to Sterling Transportation founder Keith Davis who developed an original idea into a quarter century success story, connecting Los Angeles to Miami with big trucks carrying cargo. Later we spoke to an old friend named Warren Jones, who delivered to an air cargo conference something rarely seen—a shipper! Irish Ken Ryan told us that cargo flown into Rockford, Illinois for UPS and Amazon and others, most often reaches destinations in Chicago faster than the same shipments that land at O'Hare International Airport. Finally from our "Reporter's Notebook," we take a tri