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.

     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.