Sign
on the dotted line. IATA and FIATA signed an historic
accord at the FIATA World Congress in Dublin on October
7. The agreement will see the two organizations form
a representative governance board with major impact
on air cargo in the future.
Although
some details are yet to be completed, including a handbook
that will be made available industrywide, reaction has
been immediate. At long last, the freight forwarders
will be able to deal with the airlines on a more level
playing field.
“This
new agreement,” said FIATA President Zhao Huxiang,
“gives the air cargo industry the opportunity
to continue to be progressive and successful. Congratulations
and thank you.”
IATA’s
Senior VP Financial & Distribution Services, Alex
Popovich said, “We are working with a common vision
for industry collaboration and that is a break from
the past.
“This
agreement paves the way for the modernization of the
air cargo agency program, and this time the airline-forwarder
relationship is a partnership of equals for mutual benefit.
“IFACP
reflects a new era, recognizing that the role of a forwarder
has changed to one of a purchasing customer.
"IATA
FIATA have agreed to form a joint governance board.
There will be a fair balance of liability while providing
a framework to ensure that industry standards remain
relevant, pragmatic and fit for purpose."
Pilot
program under the new agreement rolls out in Canada.
“This
agreement seems to be working already,” smiled
Jean-Claude Delen who is credited as the architect of
the IATA FIATA agreement. Jean-Claude’s perseverance
and sheer force of purpose brought the four-year project
to final success.
“For
years forwarders wanted change,” Mr. Delen said.
“Rome was not built in a day and so it was the
same with this pact.
“We
started with forming a working group in 2012, and at
this year’s World Cargo Symposium IATA confirmed.
Now with the agreement formalized and papers signed,
the real work begins.
“What
is great is that the air cargo industry is first in
creating a blueprint for cooperation that will have
applications in other parts of the aviation business,
including as example, for travel agents.”
Immediately
after the signing, FT Publisher Geoffrey Arend delivered the following
address to IATA officials and delegates of the FIATA
World Congress.
FIATA
and IATA are here—together again, but for the
first time, and all of us saw that.
What do you think?
I want to share
a thought from the writings of Kurt Vonnegut:
“Please notice
when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at
some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.’”
I would like to take this
opportunity to offer my thanks to FIATA for my designation
as a FIATA Fellow.
The title is something
I take very seriously and I only hope to continue to
earn your trust.
I’ve spent 40 years
delivering a publication of mostly airline advertising
meant to reach the forwarders.
Being recognized by FIATA
was the second time in my life that our work developed
in a totally unexpected way.
Being named the first
FIATA Fellow from outside this esteemed and long serving
90-year-old organization is a sign of respect that I
had not expected, and I value it very highly.
The first time I had this
feeling was in 1986, at the U.S. National Historic Trust
in Washington, D.C. We
were being honored by FAA and DOT and presented an award
by the then U.S. Secretary of Transportation, the Honorable
Elizabeth Dole, for “outstanding contributions
to aviation and historic preservation” for our
part in saving the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia
airport in 1978.
Between 1940 and 1948,
before Idlewild Airport—now called JFK—opened,
the Marine Air Terminal was the only international airport
for all of New York City and the only way to get to
Europe from the U.S. by air.
MAT was home to the Pan
American Clipper B314 Flying Boats—the 100-ton
Boeings that opened scheduled service from the United
States to London via Foynes, Ireland, in 1940.
The MAT is not only the
historical start of international aviation for New York;
it also is a stunningly beautiful example of art deco
design that includes a beautiful, giant 1940s mural
and other icons connecting the beginnings of aviation
from the greatest city in the world.
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I have been called a
“single-minded, determined pest” for doing
this.
Well, guess what?
I am a New Yorker!
The
FIATA Fellow
The wonderful feeling of accomplishment
we felt when we rescued the MAT returned to us this
year with the Fellowship designation from FIATA.
I have always written
about forwarding, but I did not realize that our work
was so important for you.
From an air cargo publication
that started the movement to preserve historic airport
structures in the 1970s while also writing about our
industry, to being honored by the greatest air forwarder
organization in the world, I can confirm that life indeed
develops in ways that cannot be predicted, and rarely
even explained.
Air Cargo Lifts Everybody
Your FIATA Fellow is here to
share a few things close to my heart, and specifically
for the young people here.
As a historian, I can
say that anybody who tells you the past is wonderful
and bemoans the future has rocks in their head.
A quick look at the world
today underscores that; trade is active and everybody
is lifted, in particular by air.
Air cargo is one of the
greatest contributors to growth and prosperity for the
entire world.
Have respect for the past and faith in the future.
My advice is to start
anywhere in air cargo, and you can lift yourself into
another dimension, whether that’s laterally, vertically,
what have you.
Air Cargo is one of a
few industries that operates in an open playing field.
You can easily find where
you fit best by simply moving around and naturally networking
with your international friends and contacts.
That is what the FIATA
organizers here have written in the Congress slogan.
The air cargo industry
is an expansive community of forward-thinking people—technological
as well as human—and it is astonishing in its
liberality.
Forwarders are in the
driver’s seat, so be yourselves and drive, pardon
me, fly!
Michael Yarwood from the
TT Club presented the annual Young International
Freight Forwarder of the Year Award (YIFFY Award).
From left to right are the four regional winners—Lorraine
Zhou from Zimbabwe, Evgeny Kapustin from Canada,
Shanon Gould from Australia and Kostiantyn Hapil
from Ukraine. The Young International Freight Forwarder
of The Year was Shanon Gould. |
Message To Young People
Young people who dream
of being part of the future of FIATA must always remember
to be open to new and advanced thinking, and to perform
well in different roles, even outside of their comfort
zone.
At the end of the day,
being a forwarder is no comfort zone, is it?
Irish Pioneered International Aviation
I also want to share
some thoughts about Ireland and modern aviation, paying
respect to the role Ireland has played in this part.
One day, while sitting
in my office in the MAT La Guardia where our publication
was headquartered for thirty years, in walked a group
of people from Foynes, Ireland.
After some brief conversation
it was clear that these folks had decided to build a
museum to honor the history of the town—specifically,
the Shannon Estuary, where all the flying boats landed
before continuing on to Southhampton prior to World
War II.
The Irish air museum was
still just a dream when we helped convince the great
Irish movie star Maureen O’Hara, who lived in
Manhattan, to accept “Woman of the Year”
at La Guardia Airport, understanding that all revenues
raised by our Kiwanis Club black-tie banquet would go
to Foynes.
Through the dedication
and hard work of the people of Ireland, The Foynes Flying
Boat & Maritime Museum was created.
Today, the great air museum
at Foynes holds the finest collection of artifacts tracing
Ireland’s huge contribution to the beginnings
of modern aviation.
It also features a delightful,
partial reconstruction of a 100-ton Boeing B314 flying
boat in exact detail, including interiors.
Foynes is easy to find.
It is right there on your smartphone, 2-and-a-half hours’
drive from this room in Dublin.
Go there and see what
some Irish people with a dream of aviation, a great
Hollywood star, and aviation professionals in New York
can accomplish when they work together.
It's About Respect
And now . . . a few words
about today.
We return to the concept
of respect, which is the through line of this talk.
American stand-up comedian Rodney Dangerfield always
began and ended his jokes with: “I get no respect.”
“I told my wife
the truth. I told her I was seeing a psychiatrist. Then
she told me the truth: that she was seeing a psychiatrist,
two plumbers, and a bartender. I tell you I get no respect.
“I told my psychiatrist
that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous
- everyone hasn't met me yet.”
The saving of the MAT
and the creation of the Air Museum at Foynes were only
made possible because of mutual respect.
Taken further, respect
can drive cooperation in air cargo to untold heights.
It is an integral part
of a new working model that should be based on elevating
dialogue between the factions of the air cargo industry.
Respect should be a driver
to IATA/FIATA when exploring future possibilities.
How does one define success?
Profits? Trust? Reliability? Innovation?
One of the ways to measure
these values is by the respect they command.
It's About The Customer
The central tenet of
our collective endeavors must be the much-mentioned
customer.
That is the person for
whom we all should have respect.
For more than a decade
in the B-to-C world, a few clicks on a computer, tablet,
or smart phone brought a product to one’s doorstep
with very little fuss.
It's About Each Other
We need to keep that
in mind when we cling to “our” way of doing
things.
In order to achieve seamless
service we should all have respect for one another’s
needs and desires.
The forwarder-carrier
partnership must continue to mature and improve at a
much faster pace than in the past in order to provide
a truly streamlined service to the customer.
Too many years of wasted
debates and shadowboxing have been allowed to continue
so that one side or the other could feel “in control.”
The customer can only
get what it needs and wants when a functionally integrated
team of forwarders and carriers provide the service
and stand together to fix problems or develop a new
product.
This has been done, can
be done, and must be done.
It takes understanding
of the challenge and respect for roles and responsibilities.
Change At Warp Speed
The visionary Tesla CEO
Elon Musk is investing 6 billion U.S. dollars in a state-of-the-art
battery factory.
As leading edge as that
is today, it will be obsolete in 15 to 20 years.
When I think of air cargo,
I believe that a new business model should be developed:
a stagnating global economy combined with a seriously
outdated system must eventually force fundamental change.
Today we have an opportunity
to rise above the existing norms and jointly work as
an industry on developing a new paradigm of collaboration.
The clarion calls of do
or die have been sounded before and many have already
paid the price for not heeding them.
It is not easy, simple,
or without enormous risk, but the “business as
usual” approach carries even greater risks today.
The best way we can move
ahead and not stumble is by having respect for the past,
but working for the future.
It’s the old adage
about history being doomed to repeat itself.
It’s the famous
James Baldwin line: “If you know whence you came,
there are no limitations to where you can go.”
Learn From History
Let’s learn from
our history so we don’t make the same mistakes—let’s
make new mistakes! Learning
from our history and each other will seed innovation
and growth in our industries, and will prove fruitful
and beneficial for both forwarders and airlines.
In my mind, bringing the
forwarder and airline people closer together is critical
to the success of both.
So let me congratulate
FIATA and IATA for flying us into the future of air
cargo through respectful and efficient collaboration.
Other Voices
Finally, I have asked
airline & forwarder to join our conversation today
and share their thoughts about some of these issues
and what they expect from the airline-forwarder partnership.
Please click on photos below for the airline/forwarder
voices:
So with respect for
the past experience of Shanwick Oceanic Control, the
Shannon fuel stops, Amelia Earhart sitting atop her
blood red Lockheed Vega aircraft after she landed in
an Irish cow pasture and set a record on May 31,1932,
the trials of CCS and ICARUS in 1997, the Irish Air
Museum in Foynes, the memory of some younger days that
included Pat Phelan and John Hartnett, who both served
as General Manager Cargo for Aer Lingus, and my great,
great grandmother Mary Doyle, we fly into the future
with IATA and FIATA as the wings of our flying machine.
And if you will allow,
because growing up in New York City I heard these words
often:
“Get on your knees
and thank God you’re still on your feet.”
Thank you. |