FlyingTalkers By Geoffrey Arend

Air cargo, it seems, will always find a way to stay close and working together on the local basis almost everywhere in the world. But in truth events that bring together and actually move the marble, whilst searching for some big ideas from a host of attendees feel like they are fewer and further between. As you read about Ram Menen, a guiding spirit that raised Emirates SkyCargo from an afte...

Listen Up As CNS Partnership Meets In Phoenix Here is Flying Talkers Podcast with details of last week in Geneva as  Glyn Hughes, TIACA DG, and  Brendan Sullivan, IATA Head of Cargo headlined the FIATA Headquarters Sessions. That deal between IATA and FIATA forged in 2016 that was supposed to make the peace between the airlines and the worlds largest organized forwarder group just did no...

Picking up the pieces of a historical disaster such as the COVID19 pandemic may not be anything one would wish to do, but reading the comments that economy analysts are sending to press this spring you get a chance to ask yourself what are these explanations trying to teach us and wonder. Looking at logistics, airlines and freight forwarders, that is more or less what I have been doing most of my...

Living near a street named Utopia Parkway in New York City, I suspect something unexpected could happen anytime. My great city is a kind of utopia in its own way and loyally prepares you for the unexpected. No wonder something unusual can lurk between the trade show resort meeting rooms and the golf course. Cargo Network Services (CNS) is conducting its Partnership Conference for air cargo in Phoe...

On the road again like hundreds or maybe thousands of others in logistics right now, Amar More, the Kale Logistics co-founder and Chief Executive Officer carries a business card that states in no uncertain terms: “Committed to transformation of global logistics industry”. Let us discover together why this is indeed a true statement, as many in our industry already know. We wonder about some of the...

Terms of Endearment . . . United Cargo wins Sustainability Award at The International Air Cargo Association TIACA San Francisco Executive Summit March 23. Jan Krems , who never in his imagination would have planned a situation like this, as President United Cargo almost singlehandedly saved the airline with the most ambitious cargo program in airline history,  accepted the award saying simply...

Bill Spohrer had done about as much as anyone you ever met to lift organized cargo when he served as CEO of Miami-based Challenge Air Cargo. He became a driving force of a great all-cargo enterprise based at MIA that landed four square behind a new idea for a trade show called Air Cargo Americas and also helped lift the comeback of TIACA. Bill celebrated reaching 90 years of age last June 11th. To...

When the 2022 version of Air Cargo Americas/Supply Chain Americas Show launches this week on Tuesday March 8 after having suffering its 2021 version postponed because of COVID, the event venue will look pretty much the same as always. Maybe after all the uproar of the past two years that continues, 105 booths and 1,500 people signed up with many walk-ins always a factor at this event can be looked...

Say A Prayer For Imma As Imma van der Walt was undergoing brain surgery at Duke University Medical Center in a nine plus hour procedure meant to arrest an enlarged brain tumor, her Dad, well-known and respected transportation executive Lionel van der Walt and Mom, the always gracious and lovely Ilonka were standing by as the procedure continued all day Monday February 21 I spoke to Lionel, who sai...

Happy Valentine's Day It is that time of the year when love shines. But India’s flower growers/exporters will hardly feel the warmth of love this Valentine’s Day 2022. Cupid will once again bring tears – like last year – to flower growers/exporters. Many had hoped that exports would rise but that did not happen. Farewell Alfred Kuehlewind We were saddened to learn of the death of Alfred Kuehlewind...

For the first time since Daniel Fernandez picked up the baton from the first TIACA DG, the late Garth Davies, TIACA has a running chance as the world emerges from the depths of lockdown and uncertainty to what could be a new deal as an organization. The place was called The Owl and it was located just outside the airport on the corner of Farmers & Guy R. Brewer Blvd., and what fun it was. The...

In this COVID-19 (semi) lockdown early-February 2022 as we receive notes of  greetings and good wishes for Christmas cards that were send in early December, we have been thinking, based on the slowdown in the US mail service maybe it is not too early despite the snowfall to think about flowers &. Valentines Day Always a big part of Valentines Day now less than two weeks away , we are wond...

Before you Google to ogle, think about the implications of balancing a woman on top of a skyscraper like a Christmas ornament. Lady Liberty she ain't. The latest ad from Emirates features a flight attendant standing atop the almost 3,000-foot Burj Khalifa in Dubai—the tallest skyscraper in the world. Given the context of an ongoing pandemic and the resultant travel woes that have arisen (A recent...

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree is a phrase that is typically said in connection with children who show qualities or talents  that are similar to those of their parents. When EMO Trans Jenni Frigger Latham appears on the stage in New Orleans at the first panel Wednesday morning to moderate a discussion on sustainability that includes the former Head of IATA Cargo and current Presiden...

Just came across an announcement that American Airlines Hangar 3-5  have been cleaned up at LaGuardia Airport That caught my eye as the notice also  mentioned that the original AA domestic passenger facility at LGA Hangar 1 one of the most historically significant buildings on any airport anywhere had been demolished. Hangars 3 an 5 look OK  in the style of the late 1930s and for su...

Can't wait to get to an air cargo show?  Airforwarders Association is at just that inside a big downtown  hotel beginning January 17 in New Orleans. You know all about Cargo in Cabin that saved the world and kept the airlines flying for the past two years. Did you know Cargo In Cabin was invented  and performed aboard 40 long range commercial passenger carrying jet aircraft 60 plus...

As we say goodbye to yet another year of pandemic caused by COVID lets remember those parted while looking forward to 2022 hopeful that this seemingly endless string of months that now has turned into years of living in doubt, may finally  move into the broad sunshine of a new day people all over the world pray is soon upon us. Bill Boesch has always been the common sense voice in the throng....

Greatest Charity Outreach In The History of Air Cargo Slowly in the U.S. people are getting together, although, in some quarters the feeling continues to prevail that the risk of COVID is still there, so maybe better to lay low. That's not good at all for some people anxious to get back to life, as they try to help others. Recently a cargo fundraiser by Lufthansa Cargo at ORD during of all things,...

Mixed in Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and a phalanx of other branded retail days almost too numerous to mention, days between now and Christmas 2021 let's take a deep breath and give thanks to those deliver it by hand to others in need. UPS celebrating 70 years of the UPS Foundation feels like a good place to start. A Slugger Without A Bat The exemplary In the game of baseball who is...

Some time ago, shipment of dangerous goods by air and the threat to air cargo from unidentified and unlabelled hazardous materials in shipments was described as “The Wild West of Dangerous Goods". Now Radharamanan Panicker has decided to do something about that, having gone out on his own and formed his own company: Dangerous Goods Management (DGM) India. DGM India is a fully recognized dangerous...

Has anyone noticed some ominous changes going on at air cargo leadership like IATA? Most distressing is to witness almost a mass exodus of vital key air cargo staff from the ranks of carriers, even though air cargo was carrying the water for these companies during the last 18 months. Does that make any sense? The answer we think is cutting staff in pieces: if you are always thinking passenger, you...

Now Alitalia is gone. As you join us today a 74-year saga of the airline business is now gone, maybe forever joining a very long list of airlines that some of us grew up with and thought might never go away. We do not pretend to to know all that much about Alitalia. But we know someone who does and shares his observations here. Marco Sorgetti, the recently retired Director General of FIATA an...

Newspapers and TV now feature shipping containers as front page news, whilst shoppers frantically clean out Costco, Target and Walmart and other stores to the bare walls as Christmas and end of year holidays fast approach. All in all, 2021 will be remembered for those images and a time everyone was kicking the cans. IndiGo has initiated a freighter program and is in the process of sourcing four A3...

Peter Hansen died on September 9th in Cape Town, South Africa. He was 87.  For thirty-five years from the dawn of modern air cargo, Peter was most important, and amongst his peers a very respected, down on the ground innovative air cargo builder of the last century. You may not know him. We realize that time marching on can be ferocious and people can get lost in the shuffle. But not thi...

Can you believe it? Scheduled on October 5th for the first time in recent memory, IATA includes an air cargo panel at its passenger AGM titled "What’s Next for Air Cargo After its Heroic Performance in the COVID-19 Crisis?" "Now we are underway building a new state-of-the-art cold chain facility in Greater Toronto Airports Authority Toronto Airport as the next logical step, that will be a 30,000 s...