BBaseball in America has its “World Series,” much derided by our British cousins in particular. Air cargo has events that combine exhibitions and conferences, including:

• IATA World Cargo Symposium, annually

• CNS Partnership Conference, every year

• TIACA, every two even years• Air Cargo Americas, every two

odd years• Air Cargo Europe, bieniallyThen there are specialized meet-

ings, such as the Cargo 2000 Board meetings; Airports Council Interna-tional’s Air Cargo Subcommittee; FIATA’s Air Freight Institute and so forth. Apologies for those not men-tioned here by name – any omission is unintentional.

Were the true key decision-making air cargo executives to participate in most, if not all, of “the one”, “the only”, “critical”, “exciting”, “trend-setting” meeting, it would account for 15% or more of their time every year, not to mention the costs. The business climate for 2009 looks noth-ing like the expectations for 2008, yet purchasing, production and logistics functions are more closely intercon-nected than ever before. We are going into what is probably a global recession. Remember, the Dow was over 14,000 a little over a year ago! Everything has changed.

Looking at the events listed above in terms of what they accomplish - not what they advertise, who attends and why, the picture is instructional. They differ in no small measure in terms of structure, locale, objectives and style – all of which drive attendance.

The IATA Symposium, although perceived as a newer event, is an evolution of the IATA Cargo Week of former years, albeit expanded and im-proved. It incorporates in its program an element of regulatory process for maintaining industry-wide standards through its conferences with the adoption and amendment of resolu-tions/recommended practices and their subsequent dissemination in the technical meetings. This includes the annual meetings of the cargo services and the cargo agency conferences and their respective groups.

Air Cargo Meetings In Turbulent TimesA review of a list of Symposium

attendees reveals a mix of airline delegates, vendors participating in the IATA Strategic Partnership programs (18 companies are currently listed in cargo services and 8 in cargo stan-dards) and other, non-participating vendors, postal authorities, airport representatives, forwarders and the trade press. Regarding executive meetings, by far the most sought after, cherished and exclusive airline cargo club in the world is considered to be the IATA Cargo Committee consist-ing of twelve elected heads of cargo, a.k.a. “the cargo bulls”. Understand-ably, while the vendors are seeking access to its members, because they have budget authority, the “bulls” are usually well insulated from such “inconvenience”.

Mere mortal conference delegates can be lobbied but their influence is rather limited in both policy matters and purchasing decisions.

What stands out for this observer for the upcoming 2009 event is that the agenda for the ‘plenary sessions’ as IATA calls them, the third pillar of the Symposium construct, is eerily devoid of any topics that reflect the current outright scary business envi-ronment with airlines bleeding money and a deepening global recession looming. Although IATA Econom-ics analyze “economic and policy developments affecting the financial performance of the global airline industry” you need to go elsewhere to discuss the impact or the means to combat its effects on air cargo. Yet the show must go on!

The CNS Partnership Conference is another one that yours truly has participated in for many years in various capacities and which has lost its ways in my humble opinion. As long as its honestly declared objec-tive was to provide a pure networking and R&R venue for airline cargo and freight forwarders, with some light sessions and panels, it did well. It didn’t pretend to be anything else, and the golfers always looked for-ward to it, that is, until it all changed. From the perspective of a vendor looking for business opportunities, the exhibition aspect of this confer-ence never worked. After several

fruitless attempts, the companies I was involved with dropped it from the potential exhibition agenda for good. The last CNS with Charlie Rose interviewing Richard Anderson, the Delta CEO just didn’t fit and looked a bit as going overboard. The aggres-sive stance of the U.S. authorities in the fuel surcharge scandals didn’t help and kept foreign attendance to a minimum. The jury is still out regard-ing any CNS role in Cargo 2000 as well as new leadership. The chances of it being or becoming a ‘must go’ to event in 2009 aren’t great I’d say, given the prevailing winds.

ACF/TIACA is covered in depth and in detail on page 4 with a clear eye and straight talk and a bit of ‘tough love’ all mixed in. Suffice it to say that apparently the only positive side of the story is that the TIACA Board is aware of the problem. In my experience, Cargolux management usually means one can expect results and it chairs the organization next year. We wish them well in stepping up to the plate again and hopefully bringing back what was a class act. Speaking of Luxembourg, the 1992 forum there remains a vivid picture in my mind for what this event has once been! The now defunct Atraxis’ red stand cum live bar in Washington in 2000 was a definite standout – if for the wrong reasons.

Air Cargo Americas has been a personal favorite of mine because it has always succeeded in blending the right mix of business, shop talk, networking and while never flashy, its solid exhibitions had participants mingling and walking the aisles throughout the entire event without needing to be prodded. From its humble 1991 beginnings, it retained

a workmanlike hands-on feel. Given its special rôle and traditional Latin American component, I think it will continue to serve as a productive venue for air cargo meetings.

Miami is easy to reach and there are plenty of reasonable accommo-dation alternatives. The halls and every corner and alcove have always buzzed with animated business dis-cussions, demos and familiar, as well as new faces.

Air Cargo Europe happens to be an event I have no firsthand experience with; therefore, I rely on our readers to offer some feedback and thoughts on its place and future in the meetings calendar.

We all attend various events for many different reasons; this time factoring in the global economic and financial climate, the “could we just teleconference” is making a remarkable comeback! Whereas the basic idea for a conference is to meet prospective clients, transact some business with several side meetings set up within a single venue, serve as an introduction and learn about new products and technologies, we want more. We look for the one event where we find an opportunity to analyze the existing situation hon-estly and draw up recommendations for action in tough times that we can take home and get to work on. And have the measurements to assess how we did!

A business associate of mine sent around a quote of the week I find appropriate and would like to repeat here:

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”

General Eric Shinseki, retired Chief of Staff, U. S. Army. Ted Braun

CI

AAccording to the international avia-tion association IATA, the cargo cake between the Sierra Madre in the North and Tierra del Fuego at the southern end of the American continent is cur-rently totaling �585 million euros a year – with the trend pointing steeply upward. Biggest player in the hard-fought Latin American market is DHL Global Forwarding with an overall share of presently close to thirteen percent. There are indications that the Deutsche Post subsidiary’s slice will grow even bigger in the near future. For

OOliver Evans, Chief Cargo Officer of Swiss Interna-tional Airlines, is in New York to talk to his people here and in other North American markets, eventu-ally moving up the meetings up into Canada to con-nect his expansive vision.

Mr. Evans leads a spirited team of cargo experts who are carrying the idea of Swiss efficiency to new heights while offering a varied menu of specialized air cargo products to serve a growing number of world clients.

Mr. Evans views the current market as fertile ground for opportunities to further develop friend-

J

An American Family-Owned Air Cargo Publication Since 1975

The Original

Volume 33 Number 11

Swiss Opportunities In Slowdown

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ships for Swiss WorldCargo, especially in the highly specialized movement of pharmaceuticals and other high value, time sensitive shipments that are the trademark of Swiss WorldCargo.

Talk about good timing; the airline from the land of watches expanded its routes and services into India, flying to New Delhi and Shanghai, China, while also ramping up additional capacity for Tel Aviv.

Now, while others are struggling in a challenged world economy, Swiss has added capacity in the right places and is adding market share, thus experienc-

Israel Grows In Latin America

one, the company plans to utilize the weekly direct sailings ex Hong Kong to Panama to offer it’s clientele a competi-tive Sea/Air service to Central America,

January 2009 will see Capt. G. R. Gopinath’s Deccan Cargo venture tak-ing wing. This time around, he does not want his plans grounded for want of funds. Today, the low-cost brand that was his brainchild, Air Deccan, is only a name. Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines has wiped out the brand after it gobbled up Air Deccan.

First, the good news. The captain is ready with his team. Led by CEO Jude Fonseca and 60-odd staffers—most of them former FedExers—Deccan Cargo with its headquarters in Bangalore has

Gopi’s Deccan Cargo Takes Off

started building up its cargo hub at Nagpur at a cost of $100 mn. Air Cargo News Flying Typers reported some time ago that Capt. Gopi had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with

Lufthansa Spots Sales PunchImproved customer services, higher ef-ficiency, reduction of costs and – most important – closer contacts to shippers and agents for intensified partnerships: those are the main achievements LH Cargo aims at by implementing a new structure for sales and marketing within its German home market.

The step implies a shift of about 110 sales experts from Lufthansa Cargo’s Frankfurt-based headquarters to eight stations the carrier is presently serving in Germany.

Among them are Nuremberg, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and Leipzig/Halle.

“In recent times we exaggerated the concentration of our sales staff in Frankfurt slightly,” ad-mits executive board member Andreas Otto. Consequently a substantial number of smaller and medium sized agents complained repeatedly since they had no local LH Cargo representatives next door any more to care about their daily needs or to check rates with.

That’s why in recent times more and more tonnage landed in the belly-hold compartments or main decks of other capacity providers.

China Aviation Forum

China International Aviation & Aerospace Forum 2008, the only official forum of the ongoing Airshow China in Zhuhai, was held on November 3.

During the forum, many high-profile industry executives and insiders made knowledgeable speeches concerning recent aviation developments and with a strong focus on China.

Mr. Lin Zuoming, newly nominated General Executive of China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), presented “Facing Challenges and Pursuing Development.”

“Since last ten days of May 2008, historical reform has been

CAPT. G. R. GOPINATH

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SAMUEL ISRAEL

Official On-Site Publication IATA World Cargo Symposium Bangkok 20092 AIR CARGO NEWS NOVEMBER 2008

“Today the collection includes works by Caniff, but also other artists who were influenced by Caniff ’s work including the comic strips Scorchy Smith, Charlie Chan, Dan Dunn: Secret Operative 48, Kerry Drake, George Wunder’s Terry and the Pirates, The Adventures of Patsy and Secret Agent X-9. (Geoffrey)View the Exhibition Gallery

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Editor 1975-1987 Ansel E. Talbert Editor/Publisher Geoffrey Arend Special Commentaries Julius Maldutis Managing Editor Flossie Arend Director Of China Bureau Han Bing Videographer Ralph ArendCorrespondents Ted Braun • Tirthankar Ghosh • Irum Khan • Heiner Siegmund • David Advertising Manager Judy Miller Production Manager W. Arend Circulation Manager A. Stowell

Founded in 1975. Air Cargo News The Original readership survey and circulation are independently audited and can be obtained by contacting judy@aircargonews.com. Air Cargo News is published monthly. Entire contents copyright ©2008. No portions of this publication may be reproduced without written permission. All photos and written material submitted to this publication become the property of Air Cargo News and cannot be returned. Email: judy@aircargonews.com

Vol. 33 No. 11 November 2008

Air France celebrates its 75th anniversary by repainting one of its Airbus A320s in 1940’s livery. Ambassador of the Company’s 75th anniversary, F-GFKJ joined AF medium-haul fleet for the next two years. The aircraft has been baptized “Pays de Roissy,” as a reference to the association aiming to expand friendship and economic develop of 110 communes situated around Paris-Charles de Gaulle International Airport.

Air France celebrates its 75th anniversary by repainting one of its Airbus A320s in 1940’s livery. Ambassador of the Company’s 75th anniversary, F-GFKJ joined AF medium-haul fleet for the next two years. The aircraft has been baptized “Pays de Roissy,” as a reference to the association aiming to expand friendship and economic develop of 110 communes situated around Paris-Charles de Gaulle International Airport.

The A320 livery features the seahorse, an emblem of Air Orient, com-bining the head of Pegasus, the horse of Greek mythology, and the tail of the dragon Annam to form the symbol of the relationship between Europe and the Far East.

The A320 livery features the seahorse, an emblem of Air Orient, com-bining the head of Pegasus, the horse of Greek mythology, and the tail of the dragon Annam to form the symbol of the relationship between Europe and the Far East.

IATA said that passenger traffic declined a further 1.3% in October, following the 2.9% decline in September while air cargo scored a 7.9% decline after September’s 7.7% fall.I ATA c h i e f e c o n o m i s t B r i a n P e a r c e s a i d :

Both markets reflect the severity of economic weakness at the start of the fourth quarter, with the further fall in air freight suggesting that recession has

intensified.African airlines continue to suffer the largest percentage

declines but airlines in the Asia-Pacific region have faced the largest absolute fall in traffic while airlines in the other two large regions, Europe and N America, have seen their traffic stagnate.”

World Recession is now impacting previously buoyant emerging regions with sharp slowdowns in growth for airlines in Latin America and the Middle East.

Airlines have responded to the downturn by cutting capac-ity plans but so far traffic is falling faster than capacity,” Mr. Pearce said.

Load factors are 2% points down from October last year as a result, putting additional downward pressure on profitability.

IATA Numbers Scorecard

IATA Chief Economist Brian Pearce

Celebrating Terry & The Pirates

If you ask me the reason I was mo-tivated toward air cargo, the answer in part is growing up while reading Terry and the Pirates.

When I was a kid I looked forward to the comic strip every day in the The Toledo Blade newspaper that served the city where I was born.

Terry, in leather jacket and scarf, was

off flying air cargo during the 1940’s to exotic and mysterious destinations especially in China where he often encountered the notorious Dragon Lady with her long legs and slinky dresses and cigarette wafting a smoke trail from panel to panel whenever she appeared.

Now Terry and Steve Canyon and other cartoon heroes of the 1940’s are alive and well at Ohio State University in a retrospective to their creator—the great Milton Caniff on the centennial anniversary of the remarkable cartoon artist’s birth.

Milt Caniff, who was the “Rembrandt of the comic strip” was also an Ohio native and OSU graduate (1930), and one of the most influential cartoon-ists of the 20th Cen-tury.

His innovative style is evident in his work in Steve Canyon, Terry and the Pirates, and Male Call.

“Milton Caniff: American Master” showcased his work at OSU this past October, but the OSU cartoon library is available anytime.

Lucy Shelton Caswell of OSU’s Cartoon Research Library, says the collection was originally found with Caniff ’s papers and art.

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Official On-Site Publication IATA World Cargo Symposium Bangkok 20094 AIR CARGO NEWS NOVEMBER 2008

““This was the worst Air Cargo Forum ever.

“I have attended several from the old SAE days and this Kuala Lumpur event was just a huge waste of time.”

The speaker, who, like many people, begs anonymity, is adamant to get his feelings out.

“TIACA may have ‘Jumped the Shark’ with this one,” said another at-tendee of ACF ’08.

The first impression of TIACA’s Air Cargo Forum came from a group of an-gry exhibitors we met just after they had returned from setting up their booths.

The specific complaints we heard were relatively minor but understand-able – misspelled overhead banners and side-tours endorsed by TIACA that turned out to be the kind of worthless fiascos one would associate with hosts who could scarcely have cared less.

The ‘hosts’ in question are TIACA, the Forum’s organizers, and not the Malaysians who cared mightily and may have awoken experiencing some-thing akin to ‘buyer’s remorse’ for having ‘won’ the privilege of providing a locale for an event over which they had little ability to influence.

From hotel staff, to the ‘man on the street’, to official representatives of Ma-laysian private and public concerns, we heard only praise for the warmth and hospitality of Kuala Lumpur and its constituents.

The preceding statement could liter-ally be turned inside out to describe the sentiments of exhibitors and delegates of their treatment by the ACF itself.

Exhibitors, delegates, past hosts and future hosts – in fact, everyone, but the Malaysians themselves – seemed some-what unified in their disappointment with virtually every aspect of TIACA Air Cargo Forum.

Foot traffic in the exhibition halls was light, but for the exception of pavil-ions doling out free food and drink.

Speaking of food, the WFS Booth was epochal with some of the best food & wine to ever grace a trade show.

Proving that even needs for suste-nance may not always be sufficient, lunch for the event’s second day was served in a room likely vetted by the site selection committee as ‘adequate’ for expected throngs but in fact, only the first third was necessary as the photo underscores.

We kept thinking about waste and hoping that the other 60-70% of food

TIACA Lays An Eggprepared for this under attended luncheon found some worthy benefi-ciaries.

The tapering off of attendees on the event’s second day was staggering.

For an event offering so little, the decisions by many to truncate their participation constitutes quite a state-ment.

Many who opted out altogether from the second day’s sessions and expo would reappear for the closing gala.

Maybe during their disappearance they were out contributing to the local economy.

The exhibition hall layout may have exacerbated the feeling that turnout was light as it caused division between two connected areas and marginalized pockets of booths.

Still, even the best-located exhibitors registered that attendance was very low. Worse still, decision-makers were pain-fully scarce.

Asked how many meaningful meet-ings he’d had, one major airport exhibi-tor rubbed his temples before answer-ing, “three ... no, two. One was only the KUL representative of an Asian carrier and had no influence on serving our market. Nice guy though.”

Timing of ACF certainly suffered from the world financial condition.

“No one at show could offer any op-timism for 2009,” said one attendee.

“Even the usually reserved “Asian” folks were demonstrative, saying things like: “What peak season 2008?”

The observations cuts to the core of the problem. To all but a few ‘true believers,’ TIACA is nothing more than the organizer of a biennial trade show – its claims to being the ‘voice of the industry’ notwithstanding.

Compared with IATA, Airports Council International (ACI) and other alphabet entities, TIACA barely reg-isters as a breathing player in matters such as aviation policy.

So when TIACA’s sole raison d’etre descends to marginal benefit, what is left of its relevance?

The question has rarely been in more stark relief than during Air Cargo Forum’s second day, in final sessions (“Market-Driven Challenges in the Region”) when an audience member asked panelists the general question:

“What is the role of TIACA?” Audible laughter echoed around the

room and its target was not the ques-tioner but rather the expected answer,

as a man in the audience whispered out loud:

“I’ve been asking myself that same question for decades.”

The panelists took turns swinging at the question but none made contact with the ball.

Make no mistake, all three panelists and their moderator are all able, in fact superior representatives of their employers, but the question should have provided the opportunity for one of TIACA’s own – from the audience if need be – to respond to a question that the industry has been asking for decades.

Tellingly, TIACA’s 24th Air Cargo Forum’s four sessions provide virtually no occasion for exploration of TIACA’s own objectives.

In contrast with the IATA World Cargo Symposium – quickly becoming the gold standard for action-oriented cargo events – TIACA has no ‘take away’.

Whereas IATA ends its individual tracks and general sessions with com-mitments to action items that will be resolved by the next year’s gathering, the question of exactly what is TIACA’s role gets no more tangible explanation than a “clearing house” for industry information.

For an event attended by so many daily, weekly and monthly cargo indus-try journalists, it should be provoca-tive to learn that the dissemination of industry information will be helmed by an entity hosting a biennial forum with a total of four sessions.

In fact, to the question of TIACA’s role, perhaps the most accurate – and certainly most honest – answer be-longed to panelist Azran Osman-Rani

who answered:“I have no idea what TIACA does.”

Even more meaningfully, whereas the question that preceded the response elicited snickering, Mr. Osman-Rani’s honest answer drew no laughter but rather an almost choreographed round of heads nodding in agreement.

After so much disingenuous infor-mation about record crowds and airline participation inflated by GSA’s and local station managers, the audience appreciated a straightforward answer.

Completing the circle, as mentioned earlier when we arrived, we encoun-tered exhibitors complaining about the quality of ‘side-tours’, which gave a first impression of a lack of care by organizers.

Our final impression was formed by the forty minutes spent waiting outside the entrance to the KLCC, where the program stated we would be picked up for a delegate visit to KLIA/MAS-kargo.

At 10:40 a.m. we finally concluded that the tour must have been canceled or rescheduled but again, the ACF offers so few opportunities for organizers to interact directly with the delegates that this information must have eluded the group of folks waiting for a bus.

An organization that gave a damn might have sent a representative to ensure that anyone who happened to rely upon TIACA’s own printed agenda would have been otherwise properly advised.

If any lesson could be gleaned from the 24th International Air Cargo Forum & Exposition, it would be that first im-pressions are sometimes best impres-sions and that TIACA now believes its

The Worldwide Flight Services booth theme was “French” in honor of the own-ers of the company and location of WFS global headquarters in Paris. WFS flew in oysters and other French specialties including fine cheeses, and of course wine from CDG the night ACF opened and utilized local KL French chefs to do the cooking.

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(New Delhi Exclusive)—When writ-ing about how women are changing air cargo for the better, by in many cases, taking charge India-based Blue Dart Express Managing Director Tulsi Mirchandaney must be considered both world leader in every respect for her forward thoughts and hands on approach toward building a great business.

She also operates with a sense of purpose about her country and the air cargo community and in that she is above all unique.

There are many in the cargo business here who have been propagating that

India establishes itself as a regional cargo hub.

Now, with the downturn in the economy, that thinking process is gain-ing momentum.

Tulsi Mirchandaney talking to Air Cargo News FlyingTypers said:

“Cargo has been and is perceived by both passenger airlines and most airports from the singular, narrow viewpoint of short-term revenues. “Perhaps, its role in facilitating trade and business, and, therefore, having a major impact on the economic devel-opment of the region is not immedi-ately apparent.”

She pointed out that there are indeed a few exceptions of governments and airports that have displayed foresight,

had a long-term vision and set up bus-tling centers of commerce.

These, she said, were now reaping the benefits.

She emphasized that India could get on to a new growth phase

“That can be achieved by transform-ing ourselves into a major regional hub.

“We are ideally positioned to stake our claim to this position and should, before it is too late.

“The points in India’s favor are our unique geographical location, ideally positioned between Asia and Europe.

“Our economy is driven by domestic

consumption. “Unlike most other hubs, India has

the power to consume and not just transship commodities through our airports.

“In addition, we have a well-devel-

Air Cargo News FlyingTypers recognizes the role of women in air cargo. We invite you, our readers worldwide to participate by writing a short essay about what a woman you know means to air cargo.

Click here to view some of the stories we’ve already received.

Tulsi Plan Would Hub Indiaoped domestic air network and a large number of airports to service a wide geography.”

She also said that the proposed FTA with the ASEAN members is expected to boost bilateral trade from the current estimated US$ 38 billion to around US$ 50 billion by 2010.

Blue Dart Aviation Limited is a public limited Company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1956 having its registered office at Mumbai and head office at Chennai.

Blue Dart, the only jet express India flag carrier operates B737-200 and B757-200 freighters ex-Chennai,

Kolkatta, Bangalore, Delhi connect-ing Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Kolkatta.

Blue Dart is a leader here in the domestic air express market special-izing in time-definite scheduled freight

services for overnight next day delivery of express and cargo.

“Most aviation pundits believe that India has the potential to become a regional hub not unlike Dubai or Singapore.

“They say that India could take les-sons from the success of other hubs and adapt them to the Indian situation.

“Successful hubs like Singapore and Frankfurt have registered steady growth despite world crises such as the Gulf War, 9/11 and SARS, amongst others,” said Ms. Mirchandaney.

As to where such a regional hub could be located, most industry stal-warts are of the view that two signifi-cant catchment areas with important industries at close proximity are Navi Mumbai and Chennai.

Both are important airports and seaports, offering rail and road con-nectivity.

“But regardless of whether the

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Deccan Cargo Takes OffContinued from Page 1

launched in China’s aviation industry in accordance with the reform of the state,” Mr. Lin said.

“AVIC will step by step realize two-stage management for the mother-son companies and the enterprise depart-ments.

Targeting a world-class aviation enterprise, Mr. Lin raised the develop-ment strategy of AVIC, “to merge, be new and reform. “Merge is to change the closed and conservative idea in the past and build up open and coopera-tive concept, meanwhile merge with world aviation production chain, and merge with regional economic circle.

“New is of the core competitiveness, upgraded from the traditional assets, management and technology bland value, business mode, and integrated network.

“Reform is to promote market-oriented reformation, specialized conformity, capitalized operation, in-ternational deploitation, and industrial development.

“And finally realize the target of RMB1000 billion and becoming one of

the Maharashtra Airport Development Company, which is building the multi-modal hub at Nagpur’s B R Ambedkar Airport, to set up a 50-acre warehous-ing facility. It is from that hub, that

Deccan Cargo’s 10 A-310 freighters will fly to more than 40 centers across the country. Deccan Cargo has also invested $25 mn to set up a state-of the art IT system. While it will be one of the few cargo airlines in the country to have online “track and trace” facilities, the system will ensure efficiency and reduce operational costs.

Capt Gopinath has big plans for Deccan Cargo. It will be an end-to end express logistics service provider

and will deliver cargo to the doorstep. Operating on the models of FedEx and UPS, Deccan Cargo will also have a fleet of trucks for delivery to the fur-thest corners of the country.

Meanwhile, in his efforts to insure that Deccan Cargo does not suffer the same fate as his low-cost Air Deccan did, Capt Gopinath has started ask-ing private investors to sink funds in his enterprise. He has, in fact, asked Edelweiss Capital Ltd., an investment-banking firm, to scout around for in-vestors. Capt. Gopinath, it is reported, would be happy with around $ 200 mn of funding. One likely investor could be ADAG or the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

Anil Ambani, (pictured here) ADAG’s chief, is the youngest son of the late Dhirubhai Ambani, the found-

er of Reliance Industries and a name to reckon with in Indian commercial circles. The other son is Mukesh Am-bani. After their father’s death, the two fell out and the business was divided into two.

Anil Ambani has always nursed ambitions to lead an airline – perhaps, ever since older brother Mukesh went on record to say that he wanted to have a fleet of 40 freighters for his Reliance Fresh retail business (the company has fruit and vegetable outlets spread out all over the country). He had in-cidentally tried to take over Air Dec-can but lost out to Vijay Mallya. This time around, his equity arm, Reliance Equity Advisors, is leaving nothing to chance. With plans to invest more than $50 mn in the venture, ADAG has held talks with Edelweiss. If reports are to

be believed, Anil Ambani wants control of 33 percent of Deccan Cargo. Ap-parently, Anil Ambani is not the only one in the race. Among the others are the U.S.-based New Enterprise As-sociates (NEA) and Intel Capital. The two have formed a consortium for the investment.

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the world-class aviation players.Mr. He Li, Vice-President of Air

China, shared his opinion on “Change in Chinese Civil Aircraft Market De-mand and Aircraft Selection.”

“The year of 2007 marked peak of last aviation market growth, from 2008, airline industry entered into a ‘winter’ period.

“But the growing aircraft number of Chinese domestic carriers lead to further reduction of utilization and incompliance with market.

“From structural perspective, in-crease of domestic aircraft in the future will mainly focus on mainline aircrafts

“Air China’s total aircraft number is expected to reach 270 by 2010, most of which are narrow-body aircraft.

“There are opportunities and chal-lenges in China’s aircraft market. We believe that the China aircraft industry will experience high development in the near future,” Mr. Li added.

Other speakers include Mr. Chen Jin from Commercial Aircraft Cor-poration of China advocating the upcoming regional jet-ARJ21, which announced an order of 25 from GE Aviation at the Show.

Mr. Roger Seager from GE Aviation spoke on “Delivering High Efficiency Products Now and in The Future,” and Mr. Yin Shijun from Civil Aviation Ad-

the Andina region between Colombia and Peru as well as the Caribbean. By routing international air freight via Panama’s Tocumen airport, “allows us to circumvent time-consuming transfer of goods at one of the often congested U.S. West Coast airports,” explains Samuel Israel, CEO for Latin America at DHL Global Forwarding. Indeed, transferring Asian shipments for end customers in Central America via Los Angeles sometimes takes up to a week before they can continue on their southward journey.

Domestic Latin American air freight transport, a fast-growing market, is the second reason for continued growth of DHL Global Forwarding’s market share. The reason for flying goods from Mexico to the Andina Region or from Brazil to the southern parts of the con-tinent and vice versa is because there are hardly any other alternatives to air transport. “Only very few regions have a functional road network,” Samuel knows by personal experience. The Moroccan-born manager has held a leading position at the logistics compa-ny’s headquarters for Latin America in Miami since April 2000. He previously worked at Danzas. The Florida location became the heart of the company’s operations because the largest air- and sea freight capacities to countries like Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina are offered from there. While exports like consumer goods, machinery and au-tomotive parts are shipped southward via Miami’s air- and seaport, whereas perishables like flowers, fish, meat or vegetables account for 75 percent of imports into the United States. “How-ever, the high energy prices are causing

a shift in imports from aircraft to ship,” Israel recounts.

Main task he is working on is the “Tocumen Airport” project in Panama City. One of the two runways is used ex-clusively by cargo aircraft. “Combined with the free trade zone of Colón, this is an ideal location for the combina-tion of sea- and airfreight transports,” says Israel. The logistics company has secured co-loading options for itself through capacity agreements with the associated business unit DHL Avia-tion, which uses Panama as hub for its express shipments and general cargo. In addition, the company profits from the 27,000 m_ shipping center, which DHL recently started operating at Tocumen Airport. In addition to the aviation fleet’s capacity, DHL Global Forwarding also uses local players like Arrow Air, Carga Taca or Copa Carga for transporting goods. They all offer scheduled services out of Tocumen to Central America, the Caribbean, the United States as well as South America. “Faster transit times, a higher degree of shipment consolidation and lower costs are among the first tangible re-sults of our increased use of Tocumen,” the manager notes. Another reason is that, in contrast to the United States or Europe, airlines there do not demand surcharges from their customers for security services.

China Aviation ForumContinued from Page 1

ministration of China (CAAC) spoke about the development of the Aircraft Airworthiness Certification System of China.

Israel Grows Latin AmericaContinued from Page 1

www.aircargonews.com AIR CARGO NEWS NOVEMBER 2008 7

WFS, a team spirit

WFS EUROPE6, rue du Pavé - Zone de Fret 6BP 11546 Tremblay en France95709 Roissy Charles de GaulleTél : +33 1 70 76 00 00

WFS NORTH AMERICA1925 W. John Carpenter FreewaySuite 450, Irving, Texas 75063, USATél : +1 972 629 5000

WFS ASIA PACIFIC & MIDDLE EASTWorldwide House 1501A19 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong KongTél : +852 2801 2980

WFS has 12,000 employees around the world - workingas specialists in Cargo Handling, Ground Handling andTechnical Maintenance. As a team, we aim to providethe best service possible to our customers by workingtogether as partners, to understand their businessand be responsive with innovative solutions.

We are global but local. We have a multiculturalmanagement and favour local hiring.

To listen, to understand, to be flexible and innovative,to be a partner, that is the WFS commitment.

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IATA08 25/02/08 18:25 Page 1

ing handsome increases in its overall business.

Of course, Mr. Evans’ effort in the second week of November included some dinners and meetings with cus-tomers which, “Jack has me scheduled for,” a remark amidst a smile, referring to longtime air cargo pro Jack Lampin-ski, who heads up the cargo sales and marketing effort in the Americas.

“We see opportunities for our varied and highly specialized services menu even during these tough times and into 2009, which will, by any measure, be challenging to say the least.

“Our service partners now more than ever demand reliability and qual-ity service.

“So in addition to our own quality standards and internal drivers, we also reach out to the customer.

“Our first Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted in 2006 and again in 2007.

“We recorded and published the results, which showed that our efforts were paying off with overall positive feedback.

“But sending out a simple ‘How are we doing?’ survey also affords us the chance to collect input for improve-ment.”

From the beginning of next year, Swiss WorldCargo will be part of the IATA e-freight initiative test program.

The new approach is not only good news for the environment, it will also simplify processes, enhance transport quality and save money, too.

The new e-freight pilot will ini-tially be introduced at Zurich Airport – again, with the assistance of IATA.

In practical terms, this means that Swiss WorldCargo as well as all parties involved in the local logistics chain will exchange their consignment details online.

The corresponding communica-tion network will thus include links to Zurich’s forwarders, handling agents and distribution agencies and to the Swiss customs authorities.

“E-freight represents a quantum leap in the air cargo sector,” Mr. Evans says.

“And as one of its pioneering prac-titioners, Swiss WorldCargo will play a key role in ushering in this new paperless era.

“IATA e-freight is a breath of fresh

air. We have seen a lot of progress under the leadership of IATA Head of Cargo, Aleks Popovich.

“We have seen rapid implemen-tation of a number of pilots for e-freight.

“But these pilots will be still-born until there is a critical mass reached in the air cargo industry, where enough key players have implemented e-freight broadly on major traffic lanes.

“That’s when the benefit of e-freight will pay off, as costs are eliminated.

“There will be people left behind, but the future is clearly in focus.”

Air Cargo News Flying Typers won-ders how the relationship with Luf-thansa Cargo has worked out since the German flag carrier acquired Swiss.

“We have found many positive synergies with Lufthansa and all things considered, we are working well to-gether.

“Swiss WorldCargo is strictly a belly operator and Lufthansa does both, so we have realized some wonderful benefit from our situation.

“Also, although we are a wholly owned subsidiary, they pretty much leave us to our own devices – with one important exception:

“When we need something, they provide it, and we do the same for them. A good example is the addition of our marketing agreement with Luf-thansa Charter and our ability to take advantage of the brilliance of Jettainer, and also the combining of cargo service centers at some locations.

“These as well as other additions to our service package have allowed us to achieve a return in terms of value for money that might be impossible otherwise.

“The really special thing is that a culture for air cargo, which is so strong at both carriers, is finding a way to get even better and more robust, which in the end benefits everyone – most importantly, the customer.”

But outspoken Oliver does have one thing in mind that he would like to change about air cargo.

“I think the air cargo industry has to move with the new century.

“Air cargo in 2008 is carrying far too much baggage from the past.

“The inefficiencies include data integrity, which remains a dream and not an every day reality.

“Often, data is transmitted on paper, and at times even when data moves electronically, we find mistakes

Tulsi Would Hub India

manufacturing is for export or do-mestic consumption, or whether it is for import or re-export, domestic distribution, there will always be a requirement for air connectivity.

“India, especially Delhi, has the

potential to become a global hub for air cargo.

“Delhi’s geographical location and the substantial amount of international trade carried out in the city, in addition to its growth in the manufacturing sec-tor as well as in exports and imports are all factors that could eventually see our success,” Tulsi Mirchandaney said.

Swiss Opportunities

and corrections because of lack of standards.

“The cost of non-quality is some-

thing everyone needs to tackle because it ends up making air cargo a very expensive mode of transport.”

Continued from Page 1

Continued from Page 5

Click Here To View Oliver Evans Video

Official On-Site Publication IATA World Cargo Symposium Bangkok 20098 AIR CARGO NEWS NOVEMBER 2008

Unlike LH Cargo these carriers are not concentrating their traffic at Frank-furt but offer uplift at Cologne, Munich, Düsseldorf or Hamburg.

“What we can see is a steady decline of consolidation shipments being trucked to Rhein-Main Airport to be uplifted, instead more and more agents choose an airport in their vicinity to have their goods flown out from there,” Juergen Siebenrock, vp sales Germany said.

Reason for doing so is the spot-price

policy a growing number of agents prefer.

Very often the result of those last-minute negotiations is a better rate for their shipment and thus savings for the forwarders.

“This is a visible trend in the Ger-man cargo market,” reckons manager Siebenrock.

He admits that the concentration of sales staff in Frankfurt didn’t really improve Lufthansa Cargo’s share in their home market that is continuously swaying between 24 and 26 percent in recent years nor did it attract a calcu-lable number of additional customers.

“By decentralizing our sales force

LH Spots Sales Punchwe will strengthen our regional presence and therefore, hope to in-crease our market share,” says Siebenrock.

The local teams will be split between office per-sonnel that are in charge of bookings, tracing and customer service and the sales people that will ac-tively acquire business by knocking at the customer’s doors.

Further, a back-up office will be implemented in Frankfurt for traces, consultations and other services that will be available 24/7.

The project commences next Janu-ary and shall be fully implemented by mid-2009. Next to follow in 2010 are Lufthansa Cargo’s other major sales regions like the Americas, Middle East and Fareast.

Continued from Page 1

event is so well established that giving a damn about quality isn’t really ‘on the agenda’.

Most heard sentiments from dis-gruntled exhibitors and delegates were that ‘Amsterdam should be a lot of fun’ and ‘Atlanta will be the last time we participate.’

Nowhere was there heard any hint of optimism that the event might re-turn to its former glories because the conclusion is that its management has no such interest.

Complaints are tolerated but when they’ve been echoed from Bilbao to

Calgary and now on a third continent, their issuance is more therapy for critics than for their targets.

In only its third annual incarnation, IATA’s World Cargo Symposium event to be held in Bangkok in March 2009 has all the substance and draws the global carrier and forwarder executives, who no longer can justify the time to participate in TIACA’s ACF.

Similarly, in America, IATA’s CNS Annual partnership Conference finds the balance between substantive ses-sions and effective networking with high-level decision makers from for-warders, carriers and allied industries.

When we asked one ACF veteran about the value of TIACA, the answer

came quickly and completely that “it’s always a good party and we’ve always done it.”

I can’t think of another reason I’d add. But one wonders, in an era of tightened budgets and trade show com-petition, how long can such reasoning be sufficient?

Maybe the strangest occurrence during ACF ‘08 was TIACA throwing their ultra-swank Trustees Dinner on the first night of the conference.

What happened just as ACF kicked off was that a couple thousand air cargo stakeholders attending a trade show, many visiting KL for the first time from far off places around the world, were left to shift for themselves, while

the self-appointed “Princes of TIACA,” dined in isolated splendor.

Maybe worse by the time the host country Malaysia held its gala dinner on Thursday as ACF wound down, many of the show attendees had departed the country.

“The timing is unexplainable but the hubris and insensitivity of TIACA is just awful,” one attendee said.

“Much embarrassment amongst the Malaysian hosts at ACF 2008,” another source added.

Good luck Amsterdam. If nothing else, a great time should be a cer-tainty.

TIACA Lays An EggContinued from Page4

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