Flyingtypers Cargo Talks!

With all of the difficulties people are facing in our industry these days , here is some great and hopeful news. Jessica Tyler, will assume the role as President of American Airlines Cargo. The announcement expected in a few days will see Rick Elieson current AA Cargo President capping a three- year tour of dramatic change for cargo at the carrier moving on to work his magic for AAs frequent flier program. Jessica Tyler it should be mentioned will be the first woman President in the 76-year history of AA Cargo, and also FT learned she will additionally have expanded responsibilities over American's passenger operations. A great & inspiring story! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geoffrey-arend/support

Pay Me My Money Down “COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed our lives for the foreseeable future, with those who are fortunate to still be employed now having to adjust to changes such as working from home, managing teams and completing daily activities remotely,” said Lionel van der Walt CEO of Pay Cargo. “In an industry that until now has still been dominated by many manual paper-based processes, this is no mean feat. Count the Money      “One very important issue that COVID-19 has brought to the forefront is that of finance.      “Freight forwarders will need to exercise extreme caution in how they finance their customers going ahead in these unpredictable times where shipments are lying uncleared for weeks on end, orders are cancelled, shipments are abandoned as ancillary charges have mounted, and so on.      “The cost of doing business is no doubt going to increase and forwarders might need to realign their charges.      “Customer segregation for credit lines could be a way ahead.      “This is an individual

How about we extend a quarantine forever on the slew of meaningless air cargo award events? We have been thinking  about awards as the air cargo award party bonanza threatens to begin anew post pandemic after this global COVID-19 lockup ends. Face it, the day for those under value bow-tie dinners that basically fill the coffers of sponsoring publications and organizations is over. As the world celebrates air cargo, moving all manner of PPE and other consignments aboard otherwise grounded passenger aircraft we share some recollections from the person that covered the first great air cargo movement in history and turned the world on to the possibilities of "Flying Boxcars" as an alternative way to ship freight. Here from our files is the late Richard Malkin at 105 years of age recalling his coverage of the 1948 Berlin Airlift. Who sends messages by Morse Code and speaks to contacts overseas by Short-Wave Radio?  In 1938, no one but Speed Gibson, boy hero who is always ready to climb aboard a Pan Am

“The COVID-19 Pandemic has challenged us at this point on a sustained level as no time in history, but in our line of work we have remained flexible and kept our team on point to be both inventive and to be in close touch with our airline partners. “The best surprise is no surprise so our top priority is transparency every step of the way before, during and after the lockdown. “I am very impressed with the flexibility of our team to work remotely and also the support of our service partners in seeking alternative methods to keep the supply chains open. “Now as we move forward we redouble our effort to be there for our partners every step of the way.” ATC Aviation President Ingo Zimmer could barely have imagined (as could any of us) the uproar to business and our very lives during this global pandemic of 2020. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/geoffrey-arend/support

Here for the COVID-19 world during Mid May 2020 , we offer the opinion of where we are as an air cargo industry and where we are likely to land from some people who are thankfully involved in one way or another and still have it going on as thought leaders. While everybody is masking up to go outside, elsewhere others are attempting to unmask just what our transportation world might look like in the future. One determined freight forwarder, EMO Trans Chairman Joachim “Jo” Frigger, insists that “keeping it simple is how logistics works best.” In our transportation business Bill Boesch has done it all as President of Cargo at American Airlines , and before that at Pan Am Clipper Cargo and Seaboard World.  Ram Menen is the person most responsible for delivering Emirates Sky Cargo as world power before retiring five years ago. All three of our participants here are active today either leading, teaching or advising logistics professionals around the world. In the case of Jo Frigger ,  the hands on leader

When you think about it, the Coronavirus has advanced our imagination more in the past few weeks than in several generations since the Berlin Airlift of 1948 first advanced the notion of what air cargo might accomplish. As example, Airbus said last week that it is looking at a system for removal of passenger seats and loading of cargo directly onto main deck cabin floors. Given the prospect of a slow return of the passenger business, can cargo and passengers co-inhabiting the same deck be far behind? Into The Glyn IATA Looks Ahead Glyn Hughes, IATA Global Head of Cargo for nearly the past six years has stabilized that position by being likeable, knowledgeable and someone you can talk to on a wide variety of subjects and come away impressed that here is someone who is a straight shooter. That is no small feat as IATA Cargo, with a big diverse and at times divided membership, has gone through several years of change at the top. Dixie Chicks On Truckers Menu Today when a random act of kindness and caring can of

There is another trait that Italy and India have in common: a sort of fatalism in life, mingled with fortitude, pride, hyperbole and endurance. This is the recipe of so many Italian operas, including one that has never been written. Those who read the New York Times may have heard of the royal family of Oudh Virgin To Tel Aviv/ Qatar Down Under / Pasi to Finnair  Remembering Jack Zembeck

Jan Krems is President of United Cargo and with inspirational leadership and no small amount of spirit and élan has propelled United Cargo into the top USA combination carrier position in air cargo. The payoff right now is that the United air cargo program is adding up as the major revenue driver for the entire airline. Turns out Jan who was born in the Netherlands where shirts are sold with the sleeves already rolled up, lost no time as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world, energizing his team to be onto every account securing positions and flights that now add up to more all-cargo movements per week at UA than several other carrier’s cargo efforts combined.  In just the last 30 days UA has moved more than 500 all-cargo flights worldwide. Speed Gibson Old Time Aviation Radio Serial from 1939 Returns Speed Gibson during the COVID-19 Pandemic is a regular feature of Flying Talkers. Suspend disbelief and ditch the cell phone and climb on board for flying boats adventure, morse code communication &n

There is something instantly compelling and so wonderfully appealing in a  widely circulated  picture of Virgin Atlantic people, cabin crew and all, in face masks moving some medical supplies on an all-cargo VS flight from PVG to LHR last Friday April 3. It’s about the culture of the business we are in and the people that touch us (from a proper social distance) every day. Forwarders Get No Respect In USA, FlyingTypers learned that as many as 30 or more small freight forwarding companies have gone out of business since the COVID-19 Pandemic has shut down the nation and many more are teetering on the edge of insolvency. “The coronavirus scourge has so far adversely impacted countless companies and millions of American workers,” declared Brandon Fried President of the USA Washington-based Airforwarders Association. Reporter's Notebook I once asked Mike Chowdry, who invented ACMI, if the artwork on the tails of all his airplanes was inspired by the giant metal sculpture of Atlas at the entrance outsid

In USA and elsewhere in the world now feeling the sting of the deadly COVID-19 virus that some poor unfortunate and most probably innocent people in Wuhan, Hubei Province China unleashed on the world, there is growing apprehension that what is unknown about the pandemic continues to out- pace any true understanding of the virus. Amidst latest reports that possibly a virus lab located just three miles from that wet market where the Chinese Communist Party claims the COVID-19 Pandemic originated from bats,  may have unleashed the virus is just too horrible to imagine but the story appeared this week in The Washington Times. As the world experiences one thing “Made in China” that we all could have done without, COVID-19 has caused pain, suffering and death everywhere. But now in USA where spread of the coronavirus is reportedly worse than anywhere else, the land of plenty is indeed just that as the government is sending the equivalent of USD$3400 to every family of four in the biggest cash giveaway in histo

If you are wondering what happens next, once the world moves past the COVID-19 pandemic, then you might consider the passenger airlines serving as cargo carriers right now. They are thrusting our industry forward as a powerhouse of the new economy. Not since The Berlin Airlift in 1949, has there been so much global attention directed toward air cargo. At home, working 12 hours a day Pumping Traffic? Those other people that occasionally appear are waiting to be engaged into your new life. Go into the kitchen and leave the frying pans and the egg cookers aside. Everybody gets to make Egg Coffee like in Vietnam and Sweden.

As COVID-19 has shut down Italy talking of what is happening on the ground in Italian logistics right now opens the door for a conversation with some hardworking freight forwarders. Despite the shut down everywhere else, the logistics industry is open for business in Italy as you hear this update. As the COVID-19) pandemic story continues to unfold, EMO Trans said that the global company is stepping up to find solutions and keeping business moving for the stability of the global economy. “EMO Trans is fully operational, and we are all in this together,” declared Joachim “Jo” Frigger , EMO Trans Chairman.

The China COVID-19 pandemic that exited Wuhan and blanketed the Earth causing unbelievable pain and suffering almost everywhere , has  also brought one undeniable fact forward to the population at large, no matter what else happens come hell or high water ,air cargo always flies. USA President Donald Trump designated last Sunday, March 15, a National Day of Prayer for everyone in the path of COVID-19.      Here, we share our prayers for you.      If there is one thing apparent as the China pandemic rampages around our planet, it is that when it comes to the next chapter in all of our lives, we will all need to depend on each other, like it or not.      The coronavirus has delivered an important lesson for all of us. Mankind does not get a free pass from suffering, and there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

FlyingTalkers learned that the Annual FIATA Headquarters Sessions in Zurich, scheduled for March 24-28 2020 have been cancelled and will not be rescheduled.   “This decision,” new FIATA Director General Stephane Graber said “is being taken because of recent impact of the COVID-19 contagion in Italy, and now in Switzerland.   “FIATA is mindful as to its duty of care to its membership and has taken this action due to uncertainty, as governments attempt to contain the continued spread of the COVID-19 in Switzerland and Europe.”   FIATA is scheduled to hold its major event the FIATA World Congress this autumn in Busan, Korea October 19-24.   Stay Tuned

In a time of fear and misinformation some folks who are attending Air Cargo India spoke up with candor that we can all appreciate. COVID-19 may have dampened air freight growth across the world, but a sold- out Air Cargo India February 25-27, 2020 being held in Mumbai  offers a networking venue so that all might get a better handle on exactly where air cargo is heading this year.

We hear lots of stories of an effect, since the Wuhan China Coronavirus impacted the world. Looking around air cargo for a sense of the mood, whilst cancellations of flights and services has surely impacted trade shows and events all over Asia, we detect no lack of heart or sympathy for the plight of people in China right now. Just this week Qatar Airways has volunteered free air cargo transportation for medical relief aid organized by Chinese embassies and consulates worldwide to fight the coronavirus emergency. The country’s national carrier has aims to independently donate millions of medical-grade masks and sanitization bottles to areas in China most urgently in need. Medical supplies donated by Chinese communities worldwide will be flown by Qatar Airways Cargo freighters through its global network of 170 destinations to its China cargo gateways in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau. Qatar Airways Cargo delivered the first batch of critical medical relief aid to Shanghai on February 2, 2020. Th

Just when all across USA, everyone was watching The Super Bowl in Miami last Sunday, the U.S. Air forwarders Association held their annual event in Nashville Tenn. As the first event of the long conference agenda for cargo that will continue all over the world almost every month in 2020, AfA gets the gold ring, out of the gate, for tenacity and heart. This is truly the air cargo event "for everybody else." Here is an exclusive first-hand report from Donna Mullins featuring her impressions of the AfA gathering. Last year can be recalled as a time that delivered less than spectacular numbers, with tariffs and trade wars and upheaval in Hong Kong, that turned the most powerful air cargo gateway in the world into silly putty.. So overall, world air cargo chargeable weight dipped by 4.4% in 2019, Air Cargo Data (ACD) reported Thursday January 30. On Sunday February 2, Super Bowl in Miami and The Kansas City Chiefs’ stunning come-from-behind victory was the thing here in USA and elsewhere around the world for sport

Jan Krems, President of United Cargo, is ready for take-off in 2020.      Jan Krems at United Cargo is compelling and simply irresistible.      Right now, despite the challenges and the gloom and doom predicted, United Cargo, while not immune by any means to these economic trends, continues to outperform everyone else in the U.S. air cargo business.      It is almost as if the stars lined up above Willis Tower at the Chicago headquarters for United Cargo.      As 2020 begins with the glimmer of a rebound in business, this native of Oss, Netherlands, is on top of the world.      “We have really great people, we continue to add more, and we’ve made a few simple, yet vital changes in the way we work together,” Jan says, barely concealing his passion and enthusiasm.      “Once United Cargo had people in what I call separate silos. Everyone did their jobs, but their

ATC is new GSSA for Alitalia in Germany effective  last week on January 15,2020. Ingo Zimmer is the immensely appealing, always approachable top flight executive at ATC that has sculpted a worldwide growing organization with a cadre of truly professional air cargo executives, plus an emerging impressive array of young talent. Most people in air cargo transportation know Lionel van der Walt for the time he served as President of Cargo Network Services (CNS). A short term perhaps, but it was Lionel who came to CNS as an agent of change delivering a much-needed shot in the arm that favorably impacted CNS, the pioneering global organization. That a tradition of intellect and decency begun 30 years ago with Jack Lindsey and Tony Calabrese that continues today at CNS with the very capable Mike White. But what you might not know about Lionel, is that Lionel began his transportation career at South African Airways Cargo, and today is back on the leading edge of change in air cargo serving as CEO of PayCargo, th

When FedEx let go of a reported $900 million annual business package with Amazon last year, eyebrows were raised. Now finally admitting what most everybody else already knew, that Amazon is indeed a competitor, Fred Smith is at work rebuilding the overnight service that he invented. “Air Cargo export numbers from USA were a genuine roller coaster ride during 2019,” reports Mike White President of Cargo Network services (CNS). “CNS CASS numbers through November 2019 reflects the U.S. government agreements with some of its key trade partners. “Over all,” Mike said, "we have seen a 6.8% drop in U.S. exports reported through CNS CASS. Mike Webber, the much respected airports air cargo specialist, expert event industry panelist, guest speaker and analyst is also the airport development and planning, go-to executive at Landrum Brown, shares his take on 2020 as January unfolds. “Being a derived demand ensures we’re in the crosshairs of macroeconomic influences seemingly external to our industry,” he declares in one