#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE
Monday
January 6,
2025
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#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE |
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| Vol. 24 No. 1 | Monday
January 6,
2025 |
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Indy Bolina At AA Cargo |
“The Wildcat Sanctuary (TWS)
is a 501c3 non-profit, no-kill rescue facility located in Sandstone, MN.
TWS provides a natural sanctuary to wild cats in need and inspires change
to end the captive wildlife crisis. TWS is funded solely on private donations.
The Sanctuary is a home for animals, not a zoo for people and is not open
to the public. Combining natural and spacious habitats with a life free
of exhibition and exploitation, TWS allows all residents to live wild at
heart. TWS is committed to public education about the captive wildlife crisis
in order to create a world where animal sanctuaries are no longer needed.”
We have extracted this presentation from LinkedIn, in order to introduce somebody who works hard to get results that are exceptional, without exaggeration, in a period when hyperbole has become the new normal. Indy Bolina is Head of Global Sales, American Airlines Cargo and we shall learn hereunder more about his mission in AA. He has been generous with information about his job and inspiring with his propositions. But, but . . . who is Lucy? This is how American Airlines presents the exceptional TWS outcome: “Stories like this are what make our work meaningful. We are proud to have played a role in giving this Bengal tiger a new forever home at The Wildcat Sanctuary.” The news came last October 31st and for once Halloween brought no tricks, but a real treat instead (read the full story here). We are lucky that, despite his hectic schedule, we managed to engage Indy Bolina in a series of questions, which he kindly and swiftly answered. The resulting conversation is both entertaining and informative. FT: Asking for a CV . . . How did you get into cargo? IB: I actually started my career with American Airlines in London in 2017, leading the People team for our European and Asia Pacific regions. In 2019, I was promoted within the People team to move to Dallas/Fort Worth and work at American’s new Headquarters in an expanded role, leading the People Resource groups for the airline in support of 55,000 team members across our Airport Operations, Cargo and International businesses. My role at that time really focused on leading people development and resource teams that worked in partnership with multiple organizations across the airline, including the Cargo team, to support and exceed our corporate objectives. This experience allowed me some line-of-sight into how American operated as a cargo carrier, which laid the groundwork for my eventual move to cargo in 2022. At its core, the Air Freight industry remains people orientated, and I knew I loved working with people, so the Global Sales role felt like a good fit and exciting challenge. I was right! We believe Indy’s is a challenging position, but if you get to organize jobs like the Wildcat Sanctuary’s you have made a point and you feel your work means much more than going to the office and getting paid for that. It is indeed a game changer, at least this is the impression we get at FT. If you read Indy’s reply here below the picture becomes crystal clear. FT: What drives you most . . . the joy of winning or the fear of losing? IB: I would say I’m certainly driven by the joy of winning more than anything else. The fear of losing often prevents us from taking action, taking calculated risks and from making decisions. It tends to swallow up confidence most often and sometimes our fear of losing is nothing less than limiting beliefs or reasons to justify a lack of action. In summary, my outlook is that the excitement of winning and the associated rewards, hugely outweigh the fear of losing. FT: Sure AA stood alone launching so many initiatives like first coast to coast freighters, first ULDs “Paul Bunyan Box” and more. Why should forwarders and other industry stakeholders use your offering in 2024? IB: Well, last fall, we announced an investment in our cold-chain network with the addition of SJU and JFK to our CEIV-certified stations, joining DFW, MIA and PHL. Having JFK and SJU join our network of CEIV-certified stations adds enhanced support across our east coast network with strategic expansion into the Latin American region. We have extensive experience in moving Life Sciences shipments, with growing infrastructure, products options and containers to choose from. Overall, we have a history of innovation that we are really proud of. Our product offering is one we have built with customers in mind and which we will continue to sharpen based on their changing needs and the evolving nature of each shipment journey. We are always evaluating our offers and want to ensure we are providing our customers with competitive solutions that meet their needs.
FT: How is business? Can you offer a recap of 2024 up to date and prospects for AA Cargo USA (and elsewhere as appropriate) during 2025? What has been and will be the main drivers at the core of AA Cargo? IB: 2024 has been a positive year overall. We’ve had some challenges at times, some of which have been due to varying geo-political impacts, but we’ve also had some of our strongest months – both from an operational and commercial standpoint and have seen a lot of YoY improvement in these areas. Looking ahead, digitization remains crucial for us, and we will continue to prioritize modernization through digital enhancements into the next year and beyond. We made some important strides on third party digital platforms this year and remain focused on making it easier for customers to do business with us through varying digital channels. We are also focused on ensuring that the cargo products we offer customers are effectively meeting evolving customer needs. This includes evaluating how to provide more tailored solutions for specific types of freight and handling requirements.
FT: We met Indy with his colleagues from AA Cargo in Miami at TIACA gathering of the air cargo community in November. We asked what were some of the important points, or overall message AA Cargo offered as takeaways to the folks visiting AA Cargo in Miami? IB: For starters, MIA is a huge hub for us. We are happy TIACA was there. We move so much freight into and out of MIA every day, from perishables and pharmaceuticals out of Latin America, or machinery components and consumer goods coming in from Europe and headed south. My message was that MIA will always remain a critical market for us at American Airlines Cargo – and that we looked forward to closing out the peak season with strong momentum. We are proud of the year we’ve had and are eager to start off strong in 2025. We should also remember we are investing in our facilities. We are currently making exciting upgrades at London Heathrow (LHR) and are investing heavily in our Dallas/Fort Worth facility – such as renewing our customer-facing and employee support spaces – together with improvements at our facilities in Philadelphia (PHL) and Los Angeles (LAX). FT: How important is Air Cargo to American? Detail some outstanding programs and capabilities and what is in the pipeline. IB: Cargo is a really important part of what we do at American Airlines – and Covid really helped reinforce that. Even as times have changed post-pandemic and passengers are flying again, cargo is always a consideration in business planning at the airline level. We have great leadership interest in our Cargo business and are supported by those leaders to go after initiatives we think will drive success for our customers. Some examples of this include IT investment to continue to build off our iCargo platform enabling even more connectivity for our customers through both direct connections and also through third-party booking channels, which we will continue to focus on next year. We have also made significant strides in implementing automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance efficiencies. For instance, we have implemented bot technology to automate air waybill confirmations, which can process bookings ten times faster than manual confirmation for specific criteria. Additionally, machine learning is being used to predict other operational challenges and manage capacity more effectively. We are also working closely with the airline’s sustainability team on green initiatives and processes given the significance of this topic across the cargo industry. The contemporary agenda is full, we have been ticking all the boxes and in a way, AA’s reaction to our questions even exceeded our expectations, as Mr. Bolina was eloquent in the most exclusive areas of contemporary business, e.g. the investments made in AI and machine learning. The next question came almost as a consequent of his replies. FT: What surprised you most during COVID or even more recently in 2024? IB: Covid really showed the resilience of the air cargo industry – I wasn’t yet in cargo but was at American, and our cargo team quickly became the star of the show. It was amazing to see the industry come into the limelight at a global scale, and I’m so proud of the teams that made crucial, strategic decisions to keep freight moving on our cargo-only flights during that time. Looking forward, I think the lessons the industry learned during COVID and in the subsequent years have paved the path for the innovation and modernization we are seeing today, with more to come in the years ahead. With this magic word, modernization, we come to the end of our conversation with Indy Bolina and American Airlines Cargo. Marco Sorgetti/Geoffrey Arend |
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 Vol. 23 No. 51 TIACA Built To Be More Aviation Connect Conference Chuckles for December 12, 2024 PTS Logistics Beats The Drum Jack & Simon At TIACA ACF |
 Vol. 23 No. 52 Flying By The Trillions Chuckles for December 20, 2024 Buffalo Airways Everybody's Santa |
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Publisher-Geoffrey Arend • Managing
Editor-Flossie Arend • Editor Emeritus-Richard Malkin |
Send comments and news to geoffrey@aircargonews.com
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