Security right now is the word that is on everyone’s mind and agenda.
     “Delta Cargo is working closely with the industry, the TSA and the forwarding community to ensure that 100 percent inbound screening is implemented as effectively as outbound screening was achieved.”
     Neel Shah, Senior Vice President & Chief Cargo Officer for Delta Cargo, has much on his mind these days.
     Security is right up there as most important, now and in the future.
     “What we are doing differently in 2011 is Delta Cargo is playing a more vocal role in changing the mindset of how all communities look at screening.
     “We simply cannot rely on screening at the aircraft to be the only solution.
     “Partnership between carriers, regulatory authorities, forwarders and shippers continues to be essential.
     “In our minds, (and many others) moving ahead this year into next, the critical success factor for air cargo security has got to be cooperation within the air cargo industry and between the TSA and foreign authorities.
     “Unless the TSA and, more broadly speaking, the entire U.S. government focuses the necessary resources on reviewing the process and timeline by which foreign security programs are validated and placed into the TSA's National Cargo Security Program (NCSP), we risk significant disruptions to the global supply chain.
     “It's critical that we get more foreign programs under review and certified into the NCSP in the next few months, especially if the TSA is considering an accelerated deadline for 100 percent inbound screening.
     “Threats continue to evolve, and so we believe a continued, multi-layered approach towards security is the best option.
     “Forwarders need to play a greater role in screening.
     “Outbound screening only works because of forwarder participation in CCSP.
     “In places like Europe, where many forwarders have already invested in screening equipment per local requirements, we would expect more recognition of the screening they are already doing themselves.
     “Bigger forwarders will be less impacted by this because they have already made investments; the smaller and midsize forwarders face the greatest risk/reward based on their involvement.
     “Forwarders will need to play a greater role in data submission to help the CBP target risks farther upstream in the supply chain and long before the freight is ever tendered to the airline.
     “Munich in early May afforded Delta Cargo an excellent venue with Air Cargo Europe to also host a Forum of our key European customers there,” Neel Shah tells FlyingTypers.
     Mr. Shah is a smart guy who knows how to market and also knows that numbers don’t lie.
     Remember, Neel Shah is the first top executive in our experience at Delta (which dates back to John Pogue in 1973) who has flatly stated that he will move Delta into a billion dollar cargo business.
     So of course every time we see Neel, whether in Bangkok, Phoenix or Munich (just three of the many cities in the DL system where he has spent time in the past month) we wonder,
     How Goes The Billion Dollar Baby?
     If the above sentiments are any clue, Neel, while keeping his eyes on the prize also realizes that getting to where he and his team have decided to land includes consideration for much more than just financials.
     ”We’ve led the U.S. carriers in revenue, yield and CTM growth, and we are very proud of our Q1 results,” Neel Shah assures.
     “Right now, we are well ahead of plan for the year.
     “We forecast growth this year, but the 42 percent increase in revenue that we experienced in the first quarter was surprising especially because the impact of fuel to the airline has been significant.
     “Speaking of fuel, we have taken several proactive measures to address the increase.
     “We’ve repositioned our fuel hedges by converting nearly all WTI hedge positions to Brent crude or heating oil.
     “We have also reduced the schedule by 4 percentage points in the second half of 2011 by drawing down capacity in the underperforming Trans Atlantic market.
     “Our moves, in conjunction with our joint venture partners and through the restructuring of our Memphis hub, are responsible actions to match market demand.
     “Delta has also taken a bite out of our less fuel efficient jets by accelerating retirement of 120 of our least efficient aircraft over the next 18 months, including DC9-50s, our Saab turbo-prop fleets, and 60 50-seat regional jets.
     “In the cargo business unit, we have not seen a dip in the business.
     “We are actually growing at greater than expected rates.
     “In terms of markets, all regions are growing for us at Delta Cargo.
     “We’d certainly like to see a stronger recovery in the Trans Atlantic markets, but overall, we are encouraged by the increases in volume.
     “This wouldn’t be the airline industry if there weren’t surprise developments.
     “The unrest in the Middle East has forced us to suspend our service into Cairo and Amman, which were two lucrative markets.
     “And, of course, the Japan earthquake had significant short-term effects which will continue to impact us in the medium term as the Japanese struggle to recover their lost manufacturing capability.
     “In the medium to longer term, I believe that the demand both into and out of Japan will be very robust as the country rebuilds and as Japanese companies reenter the global supply chain.
     “Very exciting for all of us at Delta Cargo are several products under development that we will be ready to talk about in the latter half of 2011.
     “For the first half of 2011, our focus has been on reinforcing our current processes for the existing product line.
     “‘Disciplined Execution’ is the mantra for Delta Cargo personnel right now.
     “In Atlanta and Los Angeles this month, we will begin using ‘Kold Karts,’ developed by Toffelmire Freight Services.
     “The Kold Kart is a temperature controlled, air cargo container transport dolly that allows perishable air cargo to be delivered to and from the door of an aircraft under constant refrigeration.
     “Prior to the invention of the Kold Kart, the only missing link in the air cargo cold chain was the airport tarmac area.
     “We are placing much of our development focus (and budget) on building eFreight and improving Cargo 2000 capabilities.
     “I have given my team the goal of establishing a clear path toward achieving top belly carrier status in eFreight adoption, and driving towards ‘top-tier’ industry system performance by achieving cores of 90 percent for DEP and 95 percent for NFD by the end of the year.
     “We are also reintroducing our air conditioned pet vans in Atlanta for the summer.
     “Delta moves a significant number of live animals each year, and part of our ‘disciplined execution’ focus is on ensuring that Delta’s Pet First product is safe, secure and reliable.
     “We also continue to expand our scope and capabilities within our Variation Pharma network.
     “I’m proud of the change we have been able to make in the value that Delta places on Cargo at the highest levels of our company. Recently Delta hosted our annual CEO Forum, where senior leaders from our top customers met with Delta’s CEO Richard Anderson and our President, Ed Bastian.
     “The strong commitment that Delta Cargo enjoys from our CEO all the way down has been a major transformation within our corporate culture.
     “When I arrived at Delta, I committed to building a more customer-centric organization, and we have certainly achieved that.
     “At our CEO forum for the last two years, we have received high marks for investments we have made in our sales teams, our call centers and our communications strategies.
     “Transparency of information still challenges us, as it does most of the industry.
     “We have made significant improvements in planeside and warehouse scanning which are now starting to pay significant benefits in terms of providing accurate, dependable and current information for our customers.
     “But, it is still a work in progress.
     “Consistency of execution is the other area where I continue to place focus. We are much, much better than we were and getting better every day with needed consistency being an issue only in a few stations.      “Unfortunately, those few stations are important stations, so I spend a lot of time working with those teams to improve dependability.
     “But in addition to everything else, the need industry wide right now is for all of air cargo to cooperate on security.
     “The need to work together, acknowledge other countries’ programs, and implement similar security procedures earlier in the supply chain are critical.
     “Advance manifesting – getting data on what we are shipping formatted correctly and filed with the appropriate regulatory authorities – is where we are heading as an industry.
     “It is much easier if we build those capabilities ourselves, rather than having them forced upon us.”
Geoffrey/Flossie

Wake Up For City
That Never Sleeps

     “Do we really need South African-harvested strawberries in December or Peruvian asparagus in January?”
     These were just two questions out of an ample selection of queries brought to the table by journalists.
     Another inquiry was if contact lenses have to be flown at night from Germany to the UK or if it wouldn’t be more reasonable to send them by truck or train.
     The answers delivered by logistics experts were as simple as they were convincing:
     Strawberries are of course dispensable for European consumers in wintertime and contact lenses can easily be transported by road.
     “But these tightly knit supply chains are the reaction of what markets constantly demand by the logistics industry,” stated Ewald Heim.
     The former Panalpina head of air freight in Germany stayed in business after retirement by slipping into a new role, becoming Managing Director of the initiative “Cargo needs the Night.”
     This coalition, supported by 16 nationwide organizations, cargo airlines, and forwarding and handling agents, was established last summer to demand reliable legal requirements for night operations at leading German gateways.
     Currently, night flight curfews are imposed at 13 out of 17 major German civil airports. Next in line is Frankfurt where a night flight ban or harsh restriction on movements between midnight and early morning could be mandated by the German Federal Administrative Court next fall when a newly built runway goes into operation at Rhein-Main.
     By inviting the media to tour Frankfurt’s CargoCity South, the initiative aimed at providing insights and first-hand information of how important 24/7 operations are for shippers, forwarders, airlines and handling agents.
     “Actually for the entire export-driven German industry,” emphasized Torsten Hoelser, Managing Director of the Forwarding and Logistics Association in the States of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.
     Hoelser expects that in the event Frankfurt is forced to close its doors at night, shipments will be sent via Amsterdam, Liege or Paris by many of his roughly 400 organization members.
Support came from Guenther Wedel of LUG aircargo handling GmbH.
     “As you can see, our 20,000 square meter warehouse is jammed with shipments.
     “Currently we employ 400 staff and we need one hundred ground handlers in addition next fall, when a second cargo hall of 10,000 m_ will be ready for operation.
     “Should a night curfew be imposed, however, we will be forced to axe quite a substantial number of jobs,” Wedel said.
     The same goes for local capacity provider Nightexpress, which deploys two short freighters each night bringing contact lenses, machinery parts, chemicals and express shipments from Frankfurt to Birmingham, UK.
     There are 30 people on staff currently working for the carrier. Their jobs are highly endangered if Frankfurt stands still at night.
     “Given that case, we might completely run out of business,” says Scotland-born Managing Director Yvonne Boag.
     This will not happen to big Lufthansa Cargo, which operates 1/3 of all flights at their Rhein/Main home base at night.
     This corresponds to 1/3 of the carrier’s total annual turnover, amounting to roughly one billion euros, said Nils Haupt, head of communications.
     “But a curfew will surely have substantial negative impacts if imposed by the judges,” he stated.
     Others will feel the impact as well, since an estimated 70 to 80 thousand people living in Frankfurt’s metropolitan region are securing their income by working for logistics service providers.
     Quite a number of them are in the perishable business, guaranteeing the seamless and year-round flow of asparagus and strawberries.
Heiner Siegmund/Flossie

Romancing The Post Office

     Folks who read us know that one of our passions is public art and preservation.
     We were privileged to have been able to save James Brooks epoch 12-foot high, 237-foot long, circular 1942 mural depicting the history of flight that adorns the upper walls of LaGuardia Airport’s Marine Air Terminal (MAT) here in Queens, New York City thirty-two years ago.
     Jim’s work at MAT was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Administration’s Public Arts Program from the depression era.
     During the period between 1933 and 1945, thousands of works of art were created all over America in public areas, train stations, U.S. Post Offices, airports, libraries and even office buildings.
     In later years, much of this art was destroyed. After a construction worker expanding a public library in Woodside, Queens tried to sell him back some chunks and pieces of a mural he created there, Jim told me:
     “Some people though our effort to create public art was nothing more than make-work for a bunch of depression era bums.”
     Thankfully in 2011, there are still quite a few examples of WPA art and sculpture spread across the landscape in everyday, unexpected places in America, which are garnering attention because of a growing number of people who care about these things.
     Meet James P. Sheridan, Postmaster of the Freeport Long Island Post Office at 132 Merrick Road, Freeport, New York, 11520-9998.
     Jim is a hands on guy who not only operates a rather large 1930-era postal facility, but also gets out on the floor to talk to customers, even working the service windows selling stamps and generally helping out when the lobby queue builds.
     Jim is also aware of his building’s heritage, particularly the lobby with its exquisite chandeliers and rich, marbled wall facings accented with two inset murals at either end of the public room.
     Of course, the mural that caught our eye was of some early air mail operations; cargo was being loaded into the nose of a DC3 by workers using early ramp equipment, whilst packing revolvers on their hips for security.
     We have an original black & white picture from American Airlines that this panel was modeled after in our files and we used it in a small book that we did for AA about twenty years ago.
     No doubt the mural has survived because it is 12-feet above the lobby floor, far above the point where anybody can get their mitts on it, but also because folk in this small Long Island, New York town just like their Post Office and want to keeps things as they are.
     But James Sheridan has taken things further.
     He applied and was successful in raising more than $3 million dollars to have his USPS facility upgraded with a new heating and air conditioning plant and some other needed renovations.
     The highlight of this upcoming work that he is most proud of is that the protected landmark lobby will be completely restored to its former brilliance with a thorough cleaning of the marble and chandeliers, plus careful restoration of its two beautiful mural panels.
     “People don’t realize how smoke stained the surfaces are in our lobby,” Jim said.
     “But very soon you will see the scaffolding go up and this place will undergo a wonderful transformation.
     “It’s all part of the Post Office’s mandate handed down to management to respect and fix up our facilities wherever we can,” Jim says.
     But as preservationists, we know better.
     Places like this post office get fixed up and preserved because people like Jim Sheridan come along and take a stand.
     That becomes apparent when Jim says:
     “I had the same luck fixing up the Glen Cove (a small town just nearby Freeport) Post Office when I was stationed there.”
     Sounds to us like there is more than just ‘luck’ at play here, Jim.
     So here’s to Jim Sheridan and anyone who looks out for things and places of beauty that bring the spirit of community together while preserving our history for our children.
     For me, I just can’t wait until the need arises again to go to the post office for another roll of stamps.
Contact james.p.sheridan@usps.gov
Geoffrey/Flossie

Pan Am The TV Series

     Pan American World Airways, long gone from the skies for almost 20 years now, may be heading to television. A nighttime drama is being created about flight attendants working for the iconic carrier in the 1960s, when flying was the domain of the rich and famous.
     The characters are fictional, but "Pan Am" the series—a pilot has been ordered by ABC, no pun intended—will draw on the experiences of executive producer Nancy Hult Ganis, who was herself a stewardess for seven years, reports CNN.
     Ganis told CNN that she flew all over the world, hopping from continent to continent while serving travelers in style.
     It was before the era of private jets, so Pan Am's customers included royalty, dignitaries and many, many celebrities. Ganis remembers seeing John Wayne, Eric Clapton, Andre Previn, and Sly and the Family Stone on her flights.
     She had lots of time off and free passes to fly anywhere she wanted, so she poured over maps to figure out where to go.
     To help pick a place, she would often simply ask herself:
     Where have I not been yet?
     But there was also a darker side to the job.
     When asked whether passengers ever treated her as a sex object, Ganis was quick to answer.
     "Oh, yes. Sometimes it was subtle, and sometimes it was really blatant," she said.
     One of the more blatant incidents happened when she was preparing passengers' meals during a flight.
     "A man who had too much to drink wandered into the galley and thought he was entitled to more than his drink, and I set him straight," Ganis recalled.
     She plans to include the experience in the ABC series.
    Actress Christina Ricci is astar in the project that will debut this fall, Ganis said.
     Could a TV series bring the famous blue-meatball back to the skies?
     Since PAA collapsed in 1991, there has only been one serious attempt by the late Marty Shugrue to revive the airline, and that ended in another bankruptcy.
     Today the logo, which at one time was as famous as Coca Cola, is owned by an outfit in New Hampshire that has used it on rail stock, various Pan Am reproduction flight bags and even a couple of B727s the company flew between some U.S. second market city pairs.
Geoffrey

RE: Joplin, Missouri Devastated

Greetings Geoffrey:

     Thank you for posting information pursuant to the devastation in Joplin, MO. Not only is Joplin relatively near my hometown of Kansas City, but we have a family history with the town that I know you'd appreciate. My grandfather was a jazz deejay and concert promoter in Joplin in the late 1940's and 50's, often booking stellar talent willing to play matinees and fill empty dates around tour dates in what was then still the jazz hotbed of nearby KC. So Joplin is dear to our hearts and anyone familiar with its citizens knows it will eventually recover but for now the devastation is immense.
      As always, thank you for your warm heart in prevailing upon your readers' better natures.

Very Best Regards,
Michael Webber

Dear Mr. Arend;

     I just wanted to drop you a quick line to let you know that I enjoy receiving Flying Typers on a regular basis.
     Interesting interviews and opinions on topics that matter.
     Shared it with our CEO the other day, who has now asked to be included in the distribution list, if your team would be so kind!
     I noticed you attended the ACE exhibition in MUC the other day, a pity we did not meet.
     Hope to have the pleasure in the near future…

Regards,
Baldvin
Baldvin M. Hermannsson, VP Sales & Marketing Air Atlanta Icelandic - www.airatlanta.com

RE:  Remembering H D Laun

Dear Geoffrey,

     I read the obit for HDL and found it to be quite lovely!
     Of course, Dieter would most likely have said differently -- not being your usually agreeable chap!
     In my mind I can hear the discussion between him and I, as there were so many in the 14 years we worked together. Though secretly he'd probably have 'approved'... never telling me, of course. (I learned a lot from that highly intelligent and educated man, not having had much of education chances myself.) That’s how it was after the war for many of us; my father died when I was two, and my mother struggled to feed me and teach me right from wrong with some degree of success ... all that while holding three jobs at any given time.
      Now she lingers in a home in Hamburg with dementia at the age of almost 97.
     I look forward to my visits and try to go every other month; I’m leaving again on 6/15.
     Life does not seem fair sometimes; you must have thought that when you lost your mom 10 years ago, at a much younger age.
     But at least she was 'there/upstairs,' as we say.
     HDL might have wanted us to say something about 'those nitwits' in Germany, (the Board and 'Rulers' at the time) that actually kicked him to the curb after all he had done for DLK/FreightAir).
     But then of course, that is not what obits are or should be about.
     'They' made me his successor, and I very reluctantly became the Executive V.P., hating it all the way.
     But HDL and I talked all the time and stayed friends.
     Well, they knew I was never going to move back to Germany—loving it in the U.S.A. from the day I arrived in 1969, and never having made a secret of that!!
     But boy! Did they try hard to make me fulfill my contract over there, knowing full well that they would close those offices there too, sooner or later.
     Beware of that two-faced Teutonic attitude; I’m sorry to say it, being German myself. But: there is that!
     Most people are ok, of course. But watch out for those tricky-dick ones, of which there are quite a lot in our business, even now.
     I am a freight forwarder by trade, graduated as such in Hamburg in 1963—so you realize that I am an old bag.
     And tired, somehow, when I see and read what's going on these days in our business.
     Here is that dumb and overused phrase: ‘WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS?’
     We remember the flying days, when it was fun, don't we?
     Forgive me for taking so much time to vent—just had a day where venting is what I needed/wanted to do, and I take from your writings that you are the understanding/caring kind of person.
      Back to HDL, may he rest in peace.
     I actually kind of liked the picture; it shows him as many knew him, and yet it doesn't show much of 'him'—just the way he'd like it!
     I tried very hard to get one, wrote to anyone I could possibly imagine to have a picture tucked away somewhere – they all answered, and none of them had one to send.
     So I am happy you got the one you published.
     I am guessing that Jo Frigger dug it up? That was nice of him.
     If you or he could send it, possibly just with the obit part included, I'd send it to all those who were sad about his passing and could not help with the picture, either.
     And then: I PROMISE! I won't be bothering with these longwinded messages anymore; it is just that I wanted to express my appreciation for your efforts and nice writing in general!

With thanks and kind regards,
Birgit

(Knowing how undoubtedly busy your days must be, I would sincerely like to thank you for all your efforts in this matter! - Forgive me for this overly long one, please!

Get On Board Air Cargo News FlyingTypers
For A Free Subscription
Click Here To Subscribe

If You Missed Any Of The Previous 3 Issues Of FlyingTypers
Click On Image Below To Access

FT051811

FT052511