Cargolux' Ogiermann
Faces Jail Time

     It’s a long way from being CEO of one of the world’s premier air cargo airlines and serving the industry as Chairman of the International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) to waking up one day to the prospect of surrendering a year or more of your life in the slammer.
     But that is what has happened to our friend, Uli Ogiermann.
     A lifetime career of building success upon success now lies in ruin and as far as law and order is concerned, a great victory has been won.
     As good and decent an individual as you might ever know, Uli’s fate has been driven by circumstance and the realization that there are indeed sharks in the water.

     FlyingTypers has closely followed the public scapegoating of air cargo executives in the recent U.S. antitrust conspiracy. Unfortunately, this past week Luxembourg-based Cargolux Airlines International found itself in the eye of the storm, charged for participating in the supposed manipulation of surcharges on air cargo shipments to and from the United States in order to eliminate and impede competition.
     On Friday, December 9, 2011, two years after Cargolux pleaded guilty in related U.S. proceedings and agreed to a fine of US $119 million, Ulrich Ogiermann, (See article) who had surrendered the top post and stayed on as Special Advisor to the Company, and Robert Van de Weg, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing, entered a plea agreement with the U.S. DoJ that included guilty pleas and a sentence of 13 months.      Ogiermann is charged with participating in the price-fixing scandal from as early as October 2001 to February 2006, and Van de Weg from December 2003 to February 2006.
     We are absolutely appalled to see these men take the fall for something that seems to be about prosecutors making more money and building up reputations, and less about justice. Especially as it’s far easier for a company to roll over and pay a fine than it is for the workingman to commit to jail time for having done something that, it seems, everyone was doing.
     This is not to condone the behavior, or take an “everybody’s doing it so why can’t we?” approach, but rather to acknowledge that putting these decent, hardworking men behind bars for a year does not rid the business of price-fixing. Nor does it make the companies they work for look good, when it gets clearer that said companies were plenty comfortable to both overcharge the customer to cover fuel and security surcharges and then flush the act away with a couple hundred million, and no amount of payoff money will wash that sour taste out of the customer’s mouth.
Left to right—Bruce McCaffrey and Geoffrey Arend in 2008.

     As it stands now, a total of 18 airlines and14 airline executives have fallen under the sharp gaze of the DoJ’s investigation, with more than US$1.6 billion in fines imposed.
     A couple of years ago we sat in Grand Central Station in New York City with a thin and pale Bruce McCaffrey, (See article) who told us about how he faced the DoJ alone after the airline (Qantas) he served for 35 years turned its back on him.
     Bruce actually needed a liver transplant, so the DoJ waited until he could get well enough to go to the slammer for six months.
     It was Christmastide, we recall—usually a good time to sit in the Oyster Bar and greet old friends—although this time there was little joy.
     Now, another Christmas is here and although Cargolux stood up for its own, with new owners, things may have changed.
     So once again, the boys at the DOJ get to make their yearend media splash with some terrible news, and if you hear a large sucking sound right now it is more people, money and lives being taken down by this bunch in Washington, D.C..
     We can only wonder: when will this politically DOJ-driven witchhunt end?
Geoffrey/Flossie

GACAG Makes Progress
In Washington
Global Air Cargo Advisory Group members, from left, Peter Gatti, Oliver Evans, and Sue Presti, were among the many trade leaders who met with Commissioner Bersin.

     The old saying is that the best surprise is no surprise.
     Well, when it comes to talking about what various industry groups are actually able to accomplish (aside from where to hold a meeting and maybe what shape the table should be: oval versus round?), it can be said lowered expectations are usually the best remedy for dealing with the fact that, most of the time, very little gets done.
     Sorry, we have been at this desk for 36 years and that is just the way we see it.
     That is, until last week.
     All of a sudden, news comes like a thunderbolt that a meeting was held on December 2 between a representative air cargo organization and some interested, influential U.S. regulators, as the Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG) went one on one with law enforcement down in Washington, DC, coming face to face with U.S. Customs & Border Patrol officials.
     The details of that meeting follow here in brief.
     What fascinates us is that the meeting was held, period.
     GACAG has managed to live up to its promise during the first year of its existence by setting itself up, detailing what it would do and (saints preserve us) actually going out and pushing an agenda. It is working to make it known that it means business by meeting with people that are used to never hearing anything much from air cargo, whilst also setting up enforcement along the lines of:
     “We know that there is a problem, so here is a rule. Prove to us that there is no problem and we may relax the rule."
     What the actual bottom line results will be is not the point.
     What GACAG has already proven is that with dedicated people such as Michael Steen, Oliver Evans and others who are willing to take the time to work together and build cooperation, understanding and outreach to others, air cargo finally may have hitched its star to a better tomorrow.
     “The air cargo industry and national regulatory authorities need to continue working together on pilots to test the feasibility and processes for advance electronic data for air cargo shipments,” GACAG told Alan D. Bersin, Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
     “Industry and regulatory authorities should also assess whether advance data can help support a risk-based approach to air cargo screening. GACAG representatives also met with senior officials from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and communicated a similar message.”
     There is more to all of this, including a promising effort GACAG took recently on e-commerce, stating:
     “E-commerce is a critical component of the future security, efficiency, sustainability and overall commercial success of the air cargo supply chain.”
     To read more about both GACAG initiatives, go to:  www.tiaca.org.
     And stay tuned….
Geoffrey

RE: LH Cool Center Inaugurated

Hi Geoffrey,
     I read your article with great interest, having been involved at the forefront of setting standards for temperature sensitive goods such as perishables and pharmaceutical or healthcare goods.
     I'd like to point out to the larger community, users and especially regulators of air transportation services, including of course warehousing and cargo handling companies, a WHO document that was issued last year wherein the Perishable Cargo Regulation manual is named as a normative reference for the transportation of healthcare goods.
     Although I may be touting my own horn here, the credit for this effort comes to the 12 LAPB members, then chaired by my colleague Gregg Pittelkow (formerly with Northwest Airlines) and the Time and Temperature Task Force, which I convinced the Board to constitute. Credit of course is also due to the WHO for their foresight and their willingness to have their 194 state membership refer to industry issued standards as normative reference material, something I know from experience countries do not like to do (relinquishing control). A great step forward for the millions of users of air transportation, the carriers and the general public at large. The point I am making here is that the healthcare community, including of course pharmaceuticals, research institutions and academia need viable 24/7-7/365 available services because guess what? A patient cannot afford to have his medication arrive adulterated or out of its temperature range and scientists cannot afford to stop life saving research because curfews are being imposed or some others think it is not necessary to transport laboratory animals. Both drugs and research animals are part and parcel of the life saving process, whether one likes it or not.
     Putting up this kind of restrictions goes against the common good and goes certainly against Lufthansa's efforts in providing top class handling and a dedicated center for these goods as it should be and in line with WHO expectations!
     God forbid some of these shortsighted people may ever need a temperature controlled drug or have a family member require life saving treatments or cures.
      Politely shouting submitted by an individual who cares with commitment and passion. I also take this opportunity to wish my dear LH colleague Nico Walzik - long standing LAPB and AATA member - a well deserved retirement and thank him for his years of dedication to the Board - Tchuss mein freund und mach es gut!

Eric Raemdonck
Ex Secretary IATA LAPB and TTTF
raemdoncke@gmail.com.

RE:  How To Quit Your Job

Dear Geoffrey

     Please thank Flossie for her entertaining, yet full of common sense, article in the latest 'Flying Typers'.
Good for her.
     And the knitting?
     I can think of several previous bosses - and others - whose knitting effigies I could have happily stuck pins in.
     But I was only just thinking of taking up knitting again and then I read Flossie's article.
     I listen to a lot of radio now I'm retired, and it would be nice to go back to my grandmother's habit of picking up knitting when she was listening to the wireless on a quiet afternoon, so I'm going to have a look at her link and see what inspiration I may receive.
     You certainly have a wonderful family.

Affectionately
Jackie

Dear Jackie. Thanks Flossie was wondering about her story. Everyone—Flossie she stands ready to deliver “effigies on demand”.
Geoffrey

Dear Geoffrey,

     For the past six months, I have been working on a book project entitled "Pan American World Airways---Aviation History Through the Words of its People".
     Along with Jamie Baldwin, an adjunct Professor at Embry- Riddle University and aviation attorney, we have co-edited an anthology which is 242 pages and features over 150 illustrations of 75 personal essays, from Pan Am employees (including one by me on the tragic 1977 accident in Tenerife, Canary Islands).
     The book includes a broad array of stories, from recollections of flying the Beatles to America on their first trip in 1964, to White House Press charters with Presidents Kennedy, Carter, Reagan and Bush, to the carriage of troops to Vietnam and the Gulf.
     The pleasure of serving dignitaries such as Mother Teresa, Charles Lindbergh and Winston Churchill are also related as are the dramatic inside stories of the Lockerbie bombing, the rescue of employees from Saigon in 1975, and numerous terrorist attacks and hijackings.
     With the recent Broadway show and before that, the Leonardo Di Caprio & Tom Hanks movie "Catch Me If You Can" and the prime-time ABC -TV show "Pan Am", the iconic airline has once again become part of pop culture.

     I believe that your readers will find the stories to be interesting and well-written.
     Thanks for passing the word along.
     Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 2012.

All best regards,
Jeff Kriendler

Editor’s Note: Great that finally an absolutely brilliant book captures the legendary line like no other. Highly recommended first-class job by Kriendler, the last SRVP Corporate Communications at PAA,“The World’s Most Experienced Airline,” when it shut down 20 years ago December 4,1991.
Jeff is top shelf and still is a sought after professional, at work today in several facets of the airline business.

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