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    Vol. 13 No. 40                     THE AIR CARGO NEWS THOUGHT LEADER                          Tuesday May 6, 2014


Is TIACA's Future In The Wings?
TIACA AGM, Dallas, April 2013
   “The new Board and I stand on the shoulders of our predecessors, and our starting point is gratitude for everything they have achieved.
   “I am therefore not one to declare or even desire radical new departures or initiatives.
   “… streamline our efforts to communicate more effectively internally and externally.”

    Oliver Evans quoted in his TIACA Times interview as new Chairman of TIACA.
   Daniel Fernandez was overwhelmingly elected by an 11 to 1 vote of the Board to another two-year term as Secretary General. Membership was at an all-time high.
   The ACF in Atlanta, the most financially successful, continued the growth of every previous ACF.
   Incheon Airport was looking forward to hosting a great trade show with an experienced professional.
   Reserves reportedly were at an all-time high of over $3 million with TIACA’s largest operating budget ever, fully funded.

TIACA AGM, Istanbul, April 2014
   TIACA has a new Secretary General, Doug Brittin, whose appointment was a surprise announcement in August 2013.
   Daniel Fernandez was ousted with little explanation given (unbelievably, we understand, this is still the subject of legal entanglements for TIACA).
   The ACF in Seoul is on track to underperform (anybody with a calculator can look at the floor plan and see it).
   While the center portion of the Incheon event looks busy, both sides or the “wings” of the ACF booth layout look empty.
   Sources say this is not a good scenario for TIACA as approximately 75% of its revenue for two years is dependent on the ACF.
   Not surprisingly, we hear that the financials were presented very quickly on a small screen, without printed copies available to the Trustees at the AGM in Istanbul as is traditionally done.
   Membership figures or lack thereof were also glossed over.
   Through it all, the young TIACA staffers still worked diligently to stage the AGM and Hall of Fame dinner.
   You have to feel a bit of empathy for the earnest Incheon Airport representative who did her best to put a good face on the situation.
   Oliver Evans was asked for his take on all of this, and replied:
   “The TIACA Executive Summit proved that the spirit in the industry is very much alive and well; there were not only many attendees but also executives of the highest level and a corresponding quality of debate in the workshops, triggered by the great diversity of the audience.
   “There is clearly a need for an association like TIACA to bring these varied interests together and to help shape the industry agenda.
   “We also wish to be very transparent, which is why we openly showed the floor plan of the ACF and the corresponding bookings.
   “It is obvious that we have a long way to go to fully book the venue, although bookings are still coming in: this is simply reflecting the realities of the market.
   “Money is tight and cautious expenditure is the order of the day for the most successful companies.
   “Moreover, alliances like SkyTeam now house their members under one booth, where each would have had his own area a few years ago.
   “TIACA and ACF are not the only ones having to adapt to this new reality.
   “This is why we are looking to diversify our sources of income while staying true to our roots and commitments to our membership. After a tough year 2013, our membership is growing once again, including some flagship companies.
   “We have plenty of work to do, a highly committed Board and management team to help us do it, and we expect members to step forward and help the committees in their work,” Oliver concluded.
   One empathizes with the people who volunteer their time and skills to try and help build an industry association, but the real question here is: what happens next?
   How is TIACA to remain viable?
   What is to replace the ACF revenues to sustain it all?
   The words of the great Issa Baluch, who resigned from the TIACA Board Of Directors last year in disgust, bubble up from the past and remain a reminder.
   Issa said of TIACA when he quit:
   “Sadly, TIACA’s leadership during the past few years has continued the focus on their own narrow interests rather than the interests of the membership as a whole.
   “The assets of the many, earned over many years, are now appropriated to fund the agenda of the few.”
   A very long time ago, we attended the very first TIACA AGM at the old In & Out Club in London.
   I remember standing on that club balcony with Chris Foyle listening to the Post Guards at sundown in the courtyard in full uniform Beating Retreat.
   We lounged around and felt important for a couple of days in overstuffed leather chairs and drank brandies and smoked cigars, back during a time when drinking and smoking went on quite a bit.
   One evening after climbing the stairs I noticed a dark figure in the dimly lit hallway apparently having some trouble getting the door to the room open.
   It was a very old Richard ‘Dick’ Jackson, founder and genius of Seaboard World Airlines.
   I went over and gently took the keys and opened the door, softly entreating Dick to use the old fashioned Skeleton Keys we were all issued, ‘with some care.’
   ‘Like you might start up your first Model T Ford,’ I told Dick, who smiled and slammed the door behind him as he walked into the room.
   When I told Garth Davies, the first TIACA Sec. Gen, the story, we laughed all over again about it.”
   Later we decided our publication Air Cargo News would not join TIACA; almost every other cargo publication did.
   But that doesn’t mean that our memories of attending TIACA meetings and ACFs are not important and alive to us.
   Our hope is that TIACA finds some way to turn Incheon into the success it deserves and that we all need.
   Stay tuned.
Geoffrey/Sabiha

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