Worldwide Flight Services announces an agreement to acquire USA handling company Consolidated Aviation Services (CAS) for an “undisclosed sum” starting the new year with further consolidation in handling. In November 2015, WFS completed its acquisition of a 51% shareholding in Fraport Cargo Services.

     Here we tip our hat to one of the builders of CAS over the years, JFK International-based Phil Jensen.
     I walked past Phil Jensen some years ago while he was standing in the lobby of New York’s Marine Air Terminal (MAT) in front of an airline counter for East Hampton Airways, where I suppose he worked at the time. Today he serves as vice president Business Development & Industry Relations at Cargo Airport Services (CAS).
     Our business lived in the MAT’s upstairs offices—our offices were repurposed from the old Pan Am radio room and came complete with a spiral staircase through the floor. We were there for more than 25 years, and along the way met a lot of great people.
     I liked Phil at once, and not just because of his rather spectacular moustache and regal bearing, but because the guy seemed ‘all-airline,’ being an alumnus of beloved Braniff International Airways.
     I recall he came up to our Air Cargo News offices to say hello and we chatted a bit about BN, and he gifted us with a TWA cross pen that I still write with today.
     Phil has found a home with CAS as it has really grown by leaps and bounds during the last decade or so of operation.
     But true to his airline-guy image (at least in my imagination), in Miami in November 2015 at ACA we talked about CAS (of course) but also recalled the small collection of Alexander Calder aircraft portraits, including the B727 titled Flying Colors.
     “I still have mine hung up at home,” we both said, almost together.
     “Didn’t I give one of my pictures to you?” Phil wondered.
     Phil Jensen gets high marks because, aside from his obvious talents and smarts, he is a good organizational type who loves the aviation industry and its history.
     All those publications that bestow awards willy-nilly to anyone with a pulse, awards that most folks can barely remember two weeks after the banquet bill is paid, might come up with something original and give a “best moustache” award.
     Phil Jensen would be a slam-dunk for that endearment at any bow-tie party in the world.
     But the kicker would be the “Excellence On The Ground” category, where CAS Jensen would certainly pull out ahead of the competition.
pjensen@casusa.com
Geoffrey