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   Vol. 16 No. 43
Monday May 8, 2017

ATC Shines At Grand Expo Munich This Week

ATC Stand No.     “I believe in partnership and quality,” says Ingo Zimmer, CEO of fast- rising GSSA ATC Aviation. ATC is based in Germany at Cargo City SUD Frankfurt Airport.
      “If airlines have good experience with us and our standards in Europe, they will be comfortable as we grow our offering elsewhere in the world including Europe, Africa, Asia, India, and in the Americas as well.”


     
Air Cargo Europe

      “This week (May 9-11) our location at Air Cargo Europe is B1.317,” declares Ingo. “ATC will greet our service partners and potentials for our offering at Air Cargo Europe (ACE), the big Messe Munchen Expo Center in Munich where we are part of the biggest air cargo event in the world.
      “ATC gained Air Seychelles as a customer for Germany and Holland in April. Moreover, business has been fantastic for the first quarter of 2017, with record-breaking tonnages everywhere in our network.
      “ACE Munich is the ideal middle ground to discuss strategies and to get a hands-on, face-to-face idea of what our customers are looking for in their GSSA,” says Ingo.
      “The event also draws most of the German forwarders as well.”

 

World Class Offering

      “The ATC team of managers from all over the world will be present in our signature display stand, offering full access to information and solutions to meet our customers and potential customers demand.
      “We continue building our business. Our outlook remains quite positive for 2017.
      “Our strengths are the variety of our services, the experience and market coverage, and our quality, which is the standard of the world,” says Ingo Zimmer.
      “Founded in Switzerland in 1971, today ATC is a global enterprise, having grown incrementally and also by acquisition (for example, Platinum Cargo in the U.S.) during our 48+ years in business.

 

On Offices & Skilled Labor

      “ATC owns and operates all our offices; there are no subcontracted operations,” says Ingo.
      “What that means is consistency—same centralized state of the art IT, clear group procedure manual, and hand-selected top managers.
      “All customer service staff at ATC has forwarder/airline backgrounds.
      “We hire the best by offering top notch career opportunities to our employees.
      “In an era of constant downward pressure, ATC does not embrace the cut-rate approach of filling our staff positions with cheap labor.
      “So far, our strategy has paid off as more than 75 airline partners have chosen ATC, realizing that in the long run our offering keeps customers and delivers not only cost savings, but also innovation to the industry.”

 

Open Invitation

      “We look forward to greeting everyone in Munich,” Ingo insists.
      “This is my personal invitation to our friends and partners and also to some folks that may not know us to stop by and spend a few moments. We think you will be pleased to discover that at ATC, honesty, service, and customer dedication is our recipe for success,” says Ingo Zimmer.
Geoffrey


chuckles for May 8, 2017

Eric Mathieu

AA Stand Number     In today’s world of instant global communication, everybody has the ability to be a reporter. The modern world has offered up customer experiences for public consumption, turning the management of expectations into a delicate balancing act.
     As American Airlines Cargo Director of Customer Experience, Eric Mathieu is a key force in walking that tightrope and securing the emerging air cargo fortunes at the world’s largest airline.


Accentuate The Positive

      “If you make a mistake,” Eric says with a slight, pleasing French accent, “you must admit what happened, provide your customer with the exact details of the fix, and prove it.”
     It’s a simple sensibility, says Eric.
     “Customer service is all about keeping it simple. And pleasant.
     “I came over to cargo from the USAir side, having joined the airline at Paris in 1991 out of the tour business, where I worked developing the North American market.”


Challenge At American

      “Sales, operations and customer service were the set up when I joined American Cargo, and all three were involved in handling customer concerns.
     “But that meant up to 19 people might get involved at one level or another to handle a single call before the question or complaint or even compliment was routed to the people that could action a response.”


Spray & Pray

      “I call that approach ‘spray and pray,’ so when Jim Butler brought me on, my first action was to move headfirst into the task of centralizing the process. That action has continued through both the American and US Airways (note: at the time of AA US Merger, USAir was US Airways) combining of services.
     “Today at AA Cargo we offer the shipper a contact point in customer service that is an interdependent advocate.
     “I can tell you from my vantage point: air cargo is complicated.
     “Many moons need to be aligned for success.
     “The idea for me is to keep things simple, human, and tell the truth.
     “At American Cargo when you write or talk to us, we endeavor to make the experience personal for each customer by building interpersonal relationships.
     “Often in the cargo business, customers are wary of someone other than their salesman (meaning the airline salesman) getting involved when there are questions or issues.
     “So we put our customer relations team together with our sales team and made a series of joint customer calls, putting a face on both services and humanizing the process.
     “Today at American Cargo our customers can look forward, as mentioned earlier, to a total interpersonal experience.”


Tracking and the Proactive Factor

      “Throughout the shipping process, we aim at keeping the human factor important, we also continue to develop and introduce modern self-service tools for our customers. Like our new online tracking tool.
     “Once upon a time,” Eric notes, “most incoming calls were from customers looking for an update about their shipment journey.
     “Today, three years later, our centralized approach and tracking tools has lowered that number significantly we expect that will continue to diminish as we continue to enhance our online tracking tools.
     “We also believe in being proactive. For example, if we notice that a shipment will experience a missed connection, we proactively rebook it on the next available flight and inform the customer before we get the call.”


Passengers & Cargo

     “I consider my time in the passenger division very valuable in preparing for air cargo.
     “Today when you look at it, one experience is above and the other below the wing.
     “But both require immediate attention when things become an issue, and failure is not option.
     “Service and sales is like a marriage where both parties really have to make an all-out effort to work together.
     “For our part, cargo service enhancements have been approached in terms of what is right in front of us.
     “That can be viewed as the low hanging fruit.
     “So for example if (god forbid) a shipment goes missing, American Cargo has a CRM system installed that launches a search within two hours.”


Measuring Success

     “Let’s face it, you cannot do better than also internally measuring performance data because as we review our aggregated monthly reports, we discover patterns.
     “So if Miami passenger loads are robust and that impacts cargo we can make adjustments on how we conduct our business.”


All About E-Freight

      “No doubt in 2017 and moving forward American Airlines cargo is about growing both its international and domestic footprint to serve many new destinations, and that requires dealing with different forms and systems in air cargo.
     “A year ago (June 2016) AA was 34 percent E-awb.
     “Then during December 2016 that number rose to 62 percent.
     “By the end of this year we expect E-awb to land at 75 percent.
     “The ongoing challenge is bringing on our small freight forwarder customer, but in all cases we will expand and enhance our offering to make it easy to electronically do business with AA Cargo,” says Eric.


Transformational Eric

     “I like cargo,” Eric declares.
     “It is complicated, but I thrive on challenges.
     “I like it because I can see the impact of what I do and the result a great air cargo service can have on peoples lives.”
     Eric is 54 years old.
     When he was offered the job, he accepted the post on the condition that he could work in Dallas, where he is based today, but continue to live in Miami, Florida, which he described as his favorite city in the world.
     “I work in Dallas but live in Miami because three years ago my partner Andi and I fostered a son, Alex, who was four months old.
     “My greatest joy has been to see this beautiful child grow into this world.”
     Eric says for relaxation he loves Mediterranean cuisine, running, and skiing.
     “You know I was born and raised in Lyon, where good food and skiing are a way of life,” he confides.


The Fixer Looks Ahead

     As he continues his yeoman work at American, Eric Mathieu is very much “The Fixer” in the great challenge of perfecting customer relations.
     “We want to be like [Apple’s] Siri, always having an answer,” says Eric Mathieu.
     “Making it easy to do business with us and being pleasant whilst lessening the administrative burden rings true to us.”
Geoffrey/Sabiha



Look Who's Sporting The Maple Lead

     For CNS last week in Orlando, Tim Strauss traded in his signature Hawaiian shirt for a new look: a straight suit with a maple leaf pin in his jacket lapel.
     Tim was quite animated about his new post as VP Cargo at Air Canada (He joined April 3), saying:
Air Canada Stand No.     “Air Canada is a great big airline with a vibrant domestic system and a growing international presence served by an expansive fleet of aircraft and dedicated cargo and passenger staff.”
     “It’s great to be here as we take off on a grand new adventure.
     He added, “I loved my time in Hawaii.
     “The people and Hawaiian Air were just great!
     “Watch Air Canada Cargo,” Tim said.
     “At Air Canada, we will take things further!”
Geoffrey

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Ed Chism and Brendan Furlong     Great to see our old friends at CNS last week, including that all-cargo pro and recently retired Emirates Cargo chief in North America, Ed Chism, (left) pictured here with Brendan Furlong, Cargo Sales Manager Global Accounts-The Americas, Emirates SkyCargo.
      Mr. Ed stepped off his gondola after navigating the great canals of Venice, Italy, to speak to us. Mr. Ed continues to fulfill a lifetime dream (having worked at Pan Am and then Emirates) of traveling to far-off, exotic places.
Emirates Stand Number      “I always look to see our old friends and colleagues,” Mr. Ed said.
      “We love this business so I expect it will never be completely out of our lives,” Mr. Ed noted.
      Brendan reports that the cargo business is “good for now.”
      “Our new solution for perishables, Emirates SkyFresh, is well accepted by our customers. SkyFresh Breathe offers ventilated cool chain solutions for delicate shipments and SkyFresh Active is our premium solution for high end shipments that cannot tolerate any deviation in temperature,” Brendan said.
      While he spoke, Mr. Ed jumped back aboard his gondola and disappeared into the Florida sun.
      Another day in paradise…
Sabiha

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If You Missed Any Of The Previous 3 Issues Of FlyingTypers
Access complete issue by clicking on issue icon or
Access specific articles by clicking on article title
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Vol. 16 No. 40
Orlando CNSLand This Week
Chuckles for May 1, 2017
Air Cargo Demand Up
EU Fine Hits Carriers Again
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Vol. 16 No. 41
May Day At CNS
Chuckles for May 2, 2017
M&G Cool Chain Solution
Unmanned Conference Drones On

FT030317
Vol. 16 No. 42
Why AA's Numbers Are Surging
Chuckles for May 5, 2017
Always Gentleman Dave
The Finale That Was
Overheard At CNS
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo


Publisher-Geoffrey Arend •• Managing Editor-Flossie Arend
Film Editor-Ralph Arend •• Special Assignments-Sabiha Arend, Emily Arend •• Advertising Sales-Judy Miller

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