FlyingTalkers By Geoffrey Arend

Michael R. White, the well-liked and much respected President of Cargo Network Services (CNS) is retiring December 31, to pursue other interests. Mr. White joins a parade of recent IATA top cargo management retirements... Dr. Jan Hoffmann is Chief, Trade Logistics Branch in the Division on Technology and Logistics at UNCTAD ( http://UNCTAD.org ). In different capacities through our careers, I have...

We have been thinking about IATA as air cargo becomes more famous in the mainstream media in regards to COVID-19 PPE flight performance. In the face of all the attention, IATA has shuttered all its cargo expertise in Geneva and Montreal. Glyn Hughes, Head of Cargo, and others in both locations have taken packages and are out. Is Cargo Network Services (CNS) next?  Do we stand to lose the expe...

A 2020 reality check is in order, with China having unleashed COVID-19 earlier this year and now ending One Country Two Systems in Hong Kong, and also apparently up to a lot of other less than glamorous things. As the pharmaceutical industry dedicates its resources to the creation of an effective vaccine, one of the greatest challenges will be the design and implementation of an efficient distribu...

If you count up the years Wally Devereaux, Southwest Airlines Managing Director Cargo and Charters, and a 28-year veteran of the carrier has been a force in air cargo for 14. But to look at him you might think he is a new kid on the block. Wally is a youthful and energetic "Mohair Sam" which is language from the 1940s that was often used to describe someone who is smart, easy going and always comf...

Sorry, this move toward laptop webinars with six people on a screen has gotten old in a hurry. I think that split screen face to face from a distance with family and loved ones works with Uncle Claude, young Obishek, Nilu and Zahir. But for business, while going thumbnail face-to-face did serve to open up our COVID-19 closeted world a bit, today that contact at times feels like  what used to...

Labor Day 2020 and unofficial end of Summer in the USA: we step back a bit to the black and white world of 1942 and spend some moments recalling the outstanding cargo movement of WW II by sharing with you dear reader the exact time period when our industry as we know it today, (albeit the modern version) was born. The China India Burma Hump flights that moved cargo from Assam, India to Kunmin...

Something I learned early on in our early effort 45 years ago to create a publication quite unlike any other for the air cargo industry: In order to have a clearer vision of what lies ahead be sure and gather as much information as possible that deals with what has already happened. So, the first order of business at Flying Typers has always been to cast a clear line to the history of air cargo. N...

As the world awaits a  COVID-19 vaccine, reportedly a two- shot sequence, delivery to 8 billion people alongside other therapeutics that might add another two step that would see that dreaded one-way trip to the hospital turn into a roundtrip. Meantime waiting in the wings is the technique of freeze drying vaccines in a process mostly under wraps for now at Pfizer and others promising  b...

Workers in the fields of life sciences and transportation are laboring diligently to discover a COVID-19 vaccine and researching the means of moving that vaccine to restore the balance of normal life all over the world. Voices Behind a Mask The word from our pharma sources is that “deadlines to save lives is uppermost as companies have committed vast resources to develop not only serums but also t...

American Airlines Cargo is opened wide & declaring it is “ready to deliver”vaccine and therapies to combat the demon global pandemic. “While the production of a COVID-19 vaccine remains unclear, we are inspired that experts and scientists around the world are working together to beat COVID-19,” Jessica Tyler President of American Cargo told Flying Talkers in an exclusive interview. Forwarder C...

Flying Monkeys Delivers Hope For COVID-19  In most parts of the world where research is being conducted to defeat COVID-19 and we hear that test vaccines are in Stage Two or Three, the research animal being tested closest to a human being is the Rhesus monkey. Recall it was the Rhesus that accelerated  Dr. Jonas Salk’s search in developing and then perfecting a vaccine for Polio in the 1...

There is no question that when purpose is attached to power, magic can happen. Right now, Doha-based Qatar Airways Cargo is the largest carrier in the region, having surpassed the likes of Emirates and others in the Middle East who by comparison seem as if they are moving in the slow lane. In Fact right now Qatar Airways Cargo is the number one cargo airline in the world. Last week we  expres...

TIACA Air Cargo Forum apparently is still planning its Miami, Florida debut with Messe München organizing the event, and a couple of industry publication partners handling sales, for November 10-11, undaunted by the global COVID-19 pandemic that once again is sweeping across Florida. In early July looking over the event website, at the booked booths reveals (minus a small army of publications) may...

EMO Trans Stands Against Racism “With the current events concerning racism and its effect on our daily lives it is time to clearly state which side we are on,” declares Joachim Frigger EMO Trans Chairman. Read All About It "How To Be An Antiracist" Published in 2019, the book "How to Be an Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi is a necessary read as 2020 moves full steam ahead. Christmas In June  . ....

Air India has been operating charter flights  between USA and India to repatriate its citizens who have been held up getting back home by travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has also been selling tickets to the public. USA Department of Transportation (DOT) says the Indian government and regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have not allowed US airline...

Italy was sitting in the middle of the biggest pandemic in 100 years, when we spoke to Antonella Straulino , Francesco Parisi, Massimo Roccasecca and Jean-Claude Delen about the events happening around us on 11th of March. It was just before the “Ides of March” 2020 and COVID19 was already ravaging the country and the continent, but the shocking numbers that were gradually becoming apparent had no...

While most of the conversation lately has centered on what the world of airlines,forwarders and other players in air cargo will look like moving ahead here  are some thoughts from Dan Muscatello an expert in airport  Cargo and Logistics strategy and planning. Dan brings an impressive portfolio of more than 40 years of experience, in both the public and private sectors. He has been a deve...

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...

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, thi...

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 worl...

“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...

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 t...

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 s...

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 s...