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2020
is a year of big challenges.
As we talk to air cargo industry people,
here comes a thoughtful and at times humorous perspective of life today.
Need
Time On Our Side
What clearly has become small—for the time being—is our
circle of friends and business colleagues with whom we can gather
in person!
Also the universe of things we otherwise
would enjoy—restaurants, theater, concerts, etc.
And, if a political comment is allowed, our
concerns about a leader of the U.S. who will blow up the world, or
at least its environment (still far from a small concern until January
20, 2021).
Robert J. Aaronson
Editors Note: An, all-time great with a stellar
40-year track record, (RJA) “Bob” Aaronson gave birth
to advanced thinking in airports as Aviation Director of Port Authority
& New York & Jersey where he directed the rebirth of Newark
Airport and set the course for preservation and restoration of both
Building One, the fabled 1934 Administration Building, home of the
world’s first air traffic control center at Newark (EWR), and
also the 1939 Marine Air Terminal with its giant art-deco mural “Flight”
at LaGuardia Airport (LGA).
Until late 2019 Bob served as non executive
chairman of Propeller Airports LLC—the developer/operator of
the successful Paine Field Terminal in Georgia. Bob’s distinguished
career includes serving at Associate Administrator for Airports at
the FAA, responsible for nationwide standards, safety and development
for all U.S. airports. Before joining the FAA, Aaronson was president
and CEO of the Air Transport Association of America (ATA). Bob has
also served as President of Airports Council of Americas (ACI) and
as Director General of Airports Council International and as president
of The Wings Club in New York. He was also responsible in the Americas
for Lufthansa Consulting. |
Nowhere
To Go
The whole world has become a smaller place to live in with everyone
confined to their space, be it at home or office and virtually nowhere
else to go.
The internet had already shrunk the world
and now COVID; online shopping, online Banking, online virtual meetings,
so much so even online court hearings on legal matters and so on.
The following too has been a reality at
least for some of us as direct effect of diminishing business:
•
Office spaces “will” or have already become smaller,
as the work from home concept is perhaps here to stay in many facets
of our business.
• Staff requirements too have become smaller
as many of us have realized that we were in fact over staffed –
when the going is good we employ people but the reverse is generally
always ignored/overlooked – but not this time; Companies have
downsized considerably during these difficult times
• Resultantly, salaries too have become smaller
• Our very own needs have become smaller, as
in many parts of the World (at least mine) there is nowhere to go
• Last but not the least and most importantly
“cargo space” has become “small” as capacities
had been pulled out virtually overnight from the market place!
Keshav Tanna
CEO, Links Cargo Agencies Pvt. Ltd., Member FIATA Board
Mumbai India. |
 Feelings
Very simply – our hearts!
Stay Strong – Stay Safe!
Donna M. Mullins,
Mullins International Solutions
Ellenwood, GA 30294 USA |
Confidence!
 In
2020 the one thing that surely got small, or much smaller, as the
case may be, is Confidence. When I say confidence, I take a rather
extensive viewpoint: confidence in politics is now at its lowest,
at least in my country; confidence in the usefulness of social media
has dropped to the lowest I can remember; even confidence in science
is not as strong as it used to be years ago. Let me say that confidence
in the future is not doing well in general.
For somebody born just after WW II
when countries were trying to resurrect from disaster, confidence
in the future was the greatest gift to our generation.
My view is that confidence is the
first thing we need to reconstruct now, and we must do so quickly.
I also have a recipe for restoring
confidence I can tell you.
One of the fastest ways to do it is
to stop lying.
Lies are the enemies of confidence;
the truth, however tough, is the only one thing that in the long
run will restore confidence.
We should start right now and desert
each and every liar in our lives.
Marco Sorgetti
Director General, FIATA (retired)
Turin, Italy |
 Ten
Thousand Cargo Flights by January?
The content of my wine  cellar  
And smaller has become our social world.
Jan Krems
President, United Cargo
Chicago, USA |
 Eyes
On The Prize
What became small?
I can tell you what got big.
We are protecting the jobs for our
global ATC team members.
Also are bending every effort to help
our airline partners to survive. ATC is going the extra mile to
get the last cent to increase their revenues.
We are a vital part of a logistic
chain and as a stakeholder we organize charters and other means
to deliver desperately needed PPE`s during the COVID- 19 crisis.
ATC is able to shift our whole organization
in a safe home office environment while still ensuring an undisrupted
high level of services to our customers.
What became very big is the concern
we had and have for our friends, business partners and relatives.
And it gladdens our hearts each time
we become aware that our partners and friends and everyone in the
ATC circle have managed to sidestep this dreaded pandemic, managing
to stay healthy and safe.
When you watch out for the small things
including human kindness, the bigger events in business and life
will prosper and come through.
Ingo Zimmer
Chief Executive Officer, ATC Aviation
Frankfurt, Germany |
Set Reset with
Antonella
 If
you asked me a month ago, most probably I’d have found a few
things that became small in 2020, at least from a working point
of view.
But now with this new lockdown of
almost the whole of Europe, here in Italy it is extremely difficult
to find small, especially when effort is in maximum overdrive, despite
the pressure and challenges.
If small comes to my mind it is connected
with personal feelings, basically: I found out that working from
home is not that impossible, that life can be fun even without travelling
around.
I finally grabbed the opportunity
to share more information than before and, of course, treasure people
and relationships more than ever.
I (and we all) had a life
pre-Covid 19 and will have one after (not really after yet unfortunately).
Thinking it over I have to admit I
was wrong a few lines up writing that it is difficult finding challenges
that became small.
In reality this pandemic changed the
way I see things: thus, one could say any challenge now is small,
because I’ve learnt to have different priorities in my life.
Stay safe!
Anto
Antonella Straulino
Foreign Affairs Manager, FEDESPEDI and FIATA Vice President
Genoa, Italy
|
 Invented
Sea Air In Dubai
The challenges remain humongous- to
your question what has shrunk? One answer is not adequate - here we
go:
1. Aviation fuel is at 10% consumption!
2. Individual’s take home has
shrunk - some are striving on fumes!
3. Tragically - there are families that
have lost so many members!
Issa Baluch
2017/20 Member of the Dean's Council, Harvard Kennedy School
Dubai, UAE |
 Becoming
Small?
Unfortunately our blue planet.
Polar ice is melting faster than ever,
fires in the Amazon, in Australia or Asia destroying millions of acres
of forests, countless animals on the verge of extinction, this year
again about 12 million tons of plastic will be flushed into the oceans.
We urgently need to refocus on saving
the planet.
Nils Haupt
Head of Corporate Communications, Hapag Lloyd
Hamburg, Germany |
 Big
Easy Of Small
What has become small . . . Well, my perception is that it is a great deal easier to
make contact with people because they are not busily flying here,
there and everywhere.
It might sound strange for a person
who has made his career in the aviation industry to perhaps appear
critical of people’s incessant travel habits.
Certainly an upside of the recent almost
complete collapse in travel has made people so much more available!
Bob Rogers
Vice President and Treasurer, ULD CARE
Hong Kong |
 No
Small Achievement
At the Airforwarders Association, no
issue has become small, but priorities have certainly shifted. These
shifts vary significantly from forwarder to forwarder. For example,
those involved in trade shows and live event transportation continue
to see an absence of activity and volumes in those areas.On the other
hand, forwarders with a strong presence in the medical and pharmaceutical
industries are scrambling to find the available capacity to meet demand.
I
continue to be impressed with the creativity and innovation within
the forwarding industry responding to the pandemic. For instance,
one of our members now offers protective desk partitions to customers
to help recapture lost shipping revenue. And of course, we cannot
forget our airline partners, amid the loss of passengers, helping
forwarders by offering flights with boxes strapped to seats of their
planes.,
Our members also continue
to balance staff remote working opportunities with the need to be
at their facilities. Remember, someone still needs actually to move
the boxes!
Forwarders see the reward
of significant technology investments that now enable many to work
effectively away from the office while satisfying complex customer
demands. The greater reliance on technology continues to evolve which
is no small achievement for forwarders.
Brandon Fried
President, Airforwarders Association
Washington, D.C., USA |
Geoffrey |
100%
Green