Top Photo—Issa Baluch, Senior
Fellow-Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative
and Chairperson FIATA Logistic Academy with FlyingTypers Publisher Geoffrey Arend. Bottom Photo—Huxiang
Zhao, CEO SINOTRANS & CSC and FIATA President bestowing
the title of 2016 FIATA Fellow on Geoffrey Arend.
(Zurich
Exclusive)—On Saturday, March 20, 2016, The
International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations
(FIATA) honored FlyingTypers’ Editor/Publisher
Geoffrey Arend, bestowing upon him the title of FIATA
Fellow for his contributions to the air cargo industry.
Accompanied by his son Geoffrey
II, Mr. Arend was given the unprecedented recognition—the
first time for someone outside of FIATA, the largest
organization of freight forwarders in the world.
The FIATA Fellow recognition
was revealed at a special dinner with 50 members of
the FIATA Extended Board members in attendance, many
of who are leaders on air cargo associations in their
respective countries and were also active in selecting
Mr. Arend for this recognition.
The event took place inside
the exquisite Haus zum Rüden, a nearly 700-year-old
restaurant near the FIATA Headquarters Session in Zurich,
Switzerland.
Mr. Huxiang Zhao, President
of FIATA and CEO of the 80,000-employee SINOTRANS &
CSC Holdings Co, Ltd. of Beijing, China, made the FIATA
Fellow presentation, saying of Geoffrey:
“We honor Geoffrey for
over 40 years of work highlighting the air forwarder
story in a manner that has been significantly beneficial
for FIATA.
“The FIATA Presidency
expresses appreciation for your outstanding contributions
to the freight forwarding and logistics industry,”
Mr. Zhao declared.
This is only the second time
in FIATA’s 89-year history that a “FIATA
Fellow” has been named.
The first distinction was awarded
in 2015 to Mr. Andrew Kemp, Regional Director Europe,
Middle East, and Africa at Thomas Miller Group/TT Club.
FIATA is a non-governmental
organization representing 40,000 forwarding and logistics
companies and employing 8 to 10 million people in 150
countries.
1. & 2.—Conversing
with Babar Badat, Transfreight Karachi; Francesco
Parisi, Francesco Parisi Casa di Spedizioni SpA
and Turgurt Erkeskin, Utikad Istanbul. 3.—Geoffrey
Arend and Malaysian hosts of FIATA World Congress
2017. 4.—Guest of honor being toasted. 5.—Robert
A. Voltmann President and CEO Transportation Intermediaries
Association and Geoffrey Arend |
Geoffrey Dennis
Arend was born on September 10, 1941, in Toledo, Ohio.
He started his journalism career
at the New York Herald Tribune as a copyboy,
but at the age of 19 was drafted and sent to Vietnam.
He later worked as a beer salesman for Ballantine, a
clothing salesman, and a music critic for The Hollywood
Reporter, solidifying his status as a maverick.
In the early 70s he worked
for the JFK airport newspaper, The Airport Times,
and in 1975 he started Air Cargo News. Geoffrey
launched a solo campaign in 1981 to save an important
WPA-era mural inside the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia
Airport. Not only was he successful in getting the mural
restored, he was also successful in attaining landmark
status for the Marine Air Terminal. At the time, the
MAT was in imminent danger of being knocked down by
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Marine
Air Terminal served as the first international airport
in New York. For his pioneering, preservationist efforts
Geoffrey was given the highest award of the Department
of Transportation and The National Historic Trust.
In 1979 Geoffrey wrote Great
Airports Newark International to launch a campaign
aimed at preserving Building One, Newark Airport’s
1939 administration building, which housed the first
air traffic control tower in the world. His preservation
work at airports served as the template for saving and
readapting Eero Saarinen’s iconic TWA Flight Center
at JFK Airport.
Since its inception in 1975,
Geoffrey continued evolving Air Cargo News into a strong
trade publication. His insightful articles on security
during the Lufthansa heist period at JFK were instrumental
in the formation of The Airport Security Council, the
first air cargo security group.
China Airlines credited Geoffrey
with assisting in the launch of service between Taipei
and Miami, the first service from the Orient to Miami
since World War I. Today Miami is served by countless
carriers from Asia.
Air Cargo News is
a publication of firsts. It was the first color publication
in air cargo; the first publication in 2 languages,
English and Spanish; the first to acknowledge and write
about women in air cargo; the first to bestow awards;
the first to support local air cargo sales clubs; the
first to help launch local cargo trade shows; the first
to do a cable television show on air cargo for the metropolitan
New York market; and the first to take on issues that
needed to be addressed in air cargo.
In 2001 Air Cargo News was the first publication to enter the digital era with
the launch of FlyingTypers; the first to introduce
video interviews; and the first to do live, real time
reporting from industry trade shows.
Geoffrey has written 8 books
about the histories of airports, served as an aviation
historian and air cargo consultant on television shows,
and appeared on History Channel’s series on airports
and air cargo.
In 2016 Geoffrey will have
served the air cargo industry for a stunning 45 years.
He has remained an ardent and unwavering advocate for
a better, more thoughtful air cargo industry. In a world
of advertorials and journalism that lacks humanity,
Geoffrey Arend has remained a committed stalwart of
air cargo, infusing Air Cargo News FlyingTypers and its community with history, intelligence, humor,
and a sense of generosity.
The guest of honor and
distinguished guests at the FIATA Extended Board
Dinner in Zurich, Saturday night. |
Geoffrey accepted
the designation as FIATA Fellow, telling the leaders:
“Without the freight
forwarder, there is no air cargo business.
“For FIATA to honor someone
like me, who has been charged by the airlines to tell
their story to the forwarders, is a completely humbling
experience.
“It is immeasurably important
for us to know that with this honor follows the trust,
confidence, and support of our readership.
“You have our back and
we will never forget how important you are.
“When we began our publication
40 years ago, our offices were fortunately located in
a building near JFK International Airport in New York
City, where around two dozen freight forwarders were
also located.
“We learned about freight
forwarding from the people around us just in the daily
rub of going to work or out for coffee. We count ourselves
blessed to have been surrounded by people like Jo and
Karin Frigger, who were opening U.S. offices for their
German-based forwarding company, EMO Trans.
“As we broadened our
approach and gained circulation around the world, we
learned about the fantastic people in our business,
like Issa Baluch, who always stressed the importance
of the people in air cargo.
“Our job has always been
to follow and verify the story, and most importantly,
to listen to air cargo’s people.
“There are hundreds of
thousands of great stories in our global village, and
not nearly enough time to tell them all.
“FlyingTypers is committed to offering everyone in our industry a
voice.
“Looking back
to our early years of publishing, we were lucky—because
of location and good friends—to recognize that
the story of freight forwarders is critical to our editorial
effort.
“I believe that
very little of consequence in life is accomplished all
by yourself.
“Nobody in my
life has contributed more than my wife, Sabiha.
“Sabiha is the
center of my life.
“She is not
only the brains behind our effort, she is also Chairman
of the Ethics Committee. Sabiha is having work done
to repair a knee and sends along her best wishes.
“We are a family
business and we cherish each day we can share our take
on things. Our daughter Florence (Flossie) is our Managing
Editor, our youngest daughter Emily handles circulation
and special events, and our son Ralph has created 130
video interviews about air cargo people.
“I’d love
for you to know my oldest son Geoffrey the second is
standing in this evening for his Mom.
He is an accomplished actor and part of an ensemble
cast in the television series Madam Secretary.
Geoffrey is an amazing son.
“This time last
week, he dropped everything, came home, and made his
dad and slightly incapacitated mom a delicious dinner.
“I have plenty
of support, and I know that without it I wouldn’t
be standing here today.
“I am deeply honored
to take the FIATA story forward and now together let’s
go to work as FIATA celebrates your glorious 90th year.
“Deepest thanks from
your FIATA Fellow,” said Geoffrey.
Flossie |
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