As the day draws nearer when the final integration of all things Continental and United Airlines becomes, simply, United, FlyingTypers spoke to Robbie Anderson, President United Airlines Cargo.
     Robbie will be remembered in the annals of air cargo history as the right man in the right place at exactly the right time.
     Through the years at CO, Robbie has been an operations executive of rather large stature charged with what could have been a rather thankless task.
     But apparently, for all intents and purposes, he has delivered in propelling the best and the brightest of two great legacy airlines into what is already a formidable air cargo program, juiced and ready for the future.
     Here, Robbie goes up front and personal, telling the world what lies ahead.
     An interesting development for United has been the move to go third party handling everywhere.
     “United continues to analyze staffing across our business.
     “We consider both the operational and financial components to determine the best sourcing solution.      Sometimes this results in a decision to in-source, and sometimes this results in a decision to outsource.
     “For United Cargo, our analysis appears to favor harmonizing cargo operations using the outsourced model of subsidiary United.
     “Financially this model makes sense, and operationally it is the best way to ensure United Cargo will continue to offer the consistent, market-competitive capacity our customers need from us.
     “This model has proven successful at United Cargo since 2003, and we are confident this is the best approach for our future.
     “While we continue to refine the analytics and discuss the plans and effects with our co-workers, it is not unlikely that we could complete transitions in all affected locations by the end of the first quarter of 2013.
     “Throughout the process, we will remain focused on our number one priority: ensuring these transitions do not impact the quality of service we provide to our cargo customers at the transitioning stations or anywhere in the world.

     “Our top priority (for 2012) is to continue to align our business processes and systems to make it easier for our customers to do business with us and for our co-workers to deliver excellent service to our customers,” said Mr. Anderson.
     Business for United has been going well so far, as can be attested by Mr. Anderson.
     “We began new, daily, widebody Newark-Istanbul service on July 1, and we’re very pleased with the development of this cargo market thus far. Looking at the larger market, we’re in the middle of the typical summer slow season for cargo.
     “But overall business is good for the airline, and we continue to make adjustments to improve our performance and profitability in line with our merger synergy commitments.
     “We’re very excited to be the North American launch carrier for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
     “United plans to take delivery of five 787s in 2012— first these will be used to add incremental wide body capacity in a number of domestic markets.
     “Beginning next year, the 787s will open up a number of new international long-haul markets for United’s customers—including recently announced Denver-Tokyo service beginning in Spring 2013.
     “I think most businesses—not just the cargo industry—are concerned about the lack of consistent growth in the global economy.
     “In air cargo, we are also impacted by excess capacity in a number of areas.
     “The question on everyone’s mind is how much of a peak season we will see, but for now it remains a challenging marketplace.
     “Despite the uncertainty, we are proud of the way our teams are working together to meet the challenges.
     “When you consider that United Cargo has not yet harvested the bulk of our synergies, we have many reasons to be upbeat about where we are now.
     “We continue to make great progress in our integration, and this will allow us to fully realize the potential of United’s unparalleled network and the largest widebody fleet among belly carriers.
     “I think the best is yet to come,” said Mr. Anderson.
     Regardless of how well or how poorly a cargo season runs, the one thing that often holds it all together is the people, who constantly make strides and push business forward despite the economic climate.

     “I’ve met a great number of impressive and inspirational people this year—both inside and outside United Airlines.
     “One person that stands out is Dave Williams, Vice President of Network Operations for the United States Postal Service. I met Dave when the USPS and United convened to discuss how we could work together to enhance United’s performance along with our increased mail volumes.
     “Dave’s intensity and his high levels of focus and commitment instantly impressed me. He deployed both operational and people skills to help drive immediate enhancements, and he fostered an enhanced spirit of collaboration that turned those enhancements into long-term gains for both organizations,” said Mr. Anderson.
     The most important thing to take into consideration when operating in this day and age is customer feedback—it’s easier than ever to both reach out to your customer base and have them reach out to you, and so far, United is receiving positive notes for 2012.
     “Our customers continue to reinforce the importance of delivering operational excellence every day, on every flight, with every shipment.
     “They also tell us how important it is that our Sales team is visible and attentive to their needs. We’re gratified that feedback from our customers confirms that we’re keeping our focus where it needs to be.
     “In terms of surprises, we are impressed by the strength and growth rates in the specialty product market.
     “Our TempControl product for temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals and our PetSafe service for live animals continue to be among United Cargo’s primary success stories in 2012,” said Mr. Anderson.
Geoffrey Arend/Flossie

Spend a few billion and you get to keep the model . . . Boeing CEO Ray Conner, presents a model of a new 737 Max 9 to United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek during a news conference as Boeing CEO Jim McNerney looks on in Chicago. United bought 150 B-737s last month.

Security Top Priority At Delta

     Perhaps the biggest change factor driving the industry over the last five years has been security. In a conservative trade that has traditionally resisted change and, as a result, lags behind, what was once inconceivable turns out to be not just possible, but in place, up, and running because governments set firm deadlines and there was no choice but comply.
     I sat down with Ken Mykytiuk, (left) recently named Delta Air Lines Cargo general manager safety, security and compliance and with Derek Duiser, (right) manager cargo security, to hear about how the FAA mandated SMS—safety management system—works.
     Delta fully completed and implemented the program, according to Ken, who went on to say that “compliance promotes good carrier cooperation and safety is not a competition.” Forwarders are also participating in these programs, mostly represented by the Airforwarders Association. It is important to be mindful of the various sizes of companies and their capabilities.
     Delta regularly conducts internal corporate audits, and there is excellent cooperation (and a lot of it) with the passenger side of the house; around seventy stations internationally are active in cargo operations. Beyond headquarters, whether in Asia, Europe, or Latin America, those stations are involved and represent the regional compliance efforts, becoming the respective experts and surrogates of the corporate policies.
     Derek explained how current security initiatives such as ACAS, in which Delta is an active pilot participant, are an opportunity to streamline operational procedures. It is a positive development that the data elements required for the pilot (whether shipper, forwarder, or carrier) consist of existing industry standard data. Derek said that the level of collaboration across the board has been increasing. Asked about any additional cost impact, he listed the transmission of the relevant messages, but suggested that the new regime, overall, will be more beneficial in making aircraft safe. Additionally, it will force more uniform procedures and system-wide compliance. In countries that do not have fully developed security programs, the IATA secure freight model is a suitable approach that can be followed.
     Ken mentions that when it comes to operations, Delta has been implementing a new vision to improve operations. Technology has been playing a big role—in the warehouse the Airclic scans for shipments, Velocity Mail by AccuCode is enabling the effective processing of growing mail volumes, and Safetrack is working for planeside scanning, initially introduced for baggage identification. The ability to have metrics to measure how efficient these processes are has been a powerful management tool. In turn, the insights gained have driven a review of SOP (standard operating procedures) versus policy and the rewrite of handling manuals. Cargo2000 measurements have also produced more positive operational trends.
Ted Braun

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