In case you have been at the shore all summer with no phone or computer, air cargo is not only doing very well right now, in fact not since the wild days of the China build up a couple of decades ago have rates been as sky high.
     Do the math. When the pandemic struck if you could get 4 bucks a kilo you might have been a local hero,
     Right now, ex-China rates are as high as $25 per kilo.
     So, while everybody takes a deep breath, have no fear that when and if a cure comes for COVID-19, the market will drive the delivery of therapeutics and vaccine, just as it does everything else.

Political Aftershock

     No doubt that in many parts of the world, the change in China policy can be classified politically as just short of a complete break as the aftershock of COVID-19 elevates one key word between China and most of the rest of the world.
     The word is trust.
     It seems many parts of the world in 2020 will no longer be too trusting of China, and in fact this year something that seemed impossible last year, has begun as nations are pushing back against China.

Huawei Still Forging Ahead

     But still in some quarters trust remains based on long standing and bipartisanship in both the Executive and Legislative branches of governments, with some Chinese companies including, for example, Huawei still able to advance themselves.
     In the U.S. we feel the split right now on an academic level as schools open for Fall and University transfer of data and foreign donations from China are met with increasing counter intelligence efforts and imposed sanctions.

Sanctions Go Deep

     Trade sanctions between the U.S. and China are also the rub, as currently they are deeper and a bit wider than similar trade policies that have actually been in place for some years.
     While many question the trust, the answer is as old as what President Reagan said in his dealings with Russia that culminated in the end of the Cold War:
     “Trust but verify,” said our 40th President.

Trying To Save The World Two Ways

     In the first instance we all know that air cargo alone cannot save the airlines as they are today.
     But in the second case, air cargo is experiencing gold rush times, lifting as many planes as possible right now.

Finntastic Finnair Cargo

     Finnair Cargo, the airline that still flies to HEL (Finland) and back, has gone all in to the cargo business opportunity right now.
     Among other moves to enhance its cargo offering, the always innovative and ambitious carrier converted a pax A330 aircraft into all-cargo service.
     “Without passengers how are we supposed to stay in business?” Mika Kilpinen, Development lead for Operations, Quality and Compliance mused.
     “The conversion took about two weeks of planning, but the physical transformation took five working days,” Mika said.
     “To use the cabin space for cargo, we removed Economy Class seats creating 22 cargo areas that are secured by nets. Each of those areas can carry 250 kg per square meter, between 600-1,400 kg and in volume 4-9 cubic meters.
     “We utilized the same rail that holds the passenger seats to secure the nets for the cargo load.”
     The carrier has pressed two other A330s from its fleet for enhanced cargo carriage and is also moving main deck cargo aboard its long range A350s for cargo in seat.

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

     Look out Leroy, because just around the corner will come a sky full of therapeutics and vaccines that 8 billion people on the planet will all demand at once.
     In the case of that prayed-for-vaccine, two shots apiece is the reported prescription.
     As deals to activate CRAF, the U.S. Civil Reserve Air Fleet are now set, we will see U.S. flags pressed into service (read as FedEx, UPS getting the lead there), the airport taxiway fleet sitting silent with no place to go, will spring to life and be pressed into service.
     COVID-19 is destructive, heartbreaking, a hell on earth that has left humankind with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, touching everyone in the world in some way.
     Now human determination, spirit, hope and science will come to the fore.
     We can’t wait for tomorrow, because what we do in air cargo looks better every day.
Geoffrey

     It’s time to Fall Back!
     It’s a great time of year, when the first hint of a shift in the weather and shorter days advance the sense of renewal.
     Sorry, but this move toward laptop webinars with six people crowded on a screen has gotten old in a hurry.
     I think face-to-face from a distance with the loved ones works: we enjoy seeing Uncle Claude, young Obhishek, Nilu and Zahir via Zoom.
     But for business, while meeting in person does open up our COVID-19 closeted world a bit, the specter of the on-screen avatar, while helpful, also feels at times like sitting in the audience of a burlesque show.

Seen One, You’ve Seen Them All

     Online meetings are useful for company meetings and even some key account appearances; however, the avalanche of group think webinars going on in air cargo right now can feel like the Burly-Q of another day. While titillating at first, eventually you are left with the impression that if you have seen one, you’ve seen them all.
     Let’s face it: some webinars end up as a boring sales platforms amongst the usual suspects with nothing new to say, or overlong dissertations on roast pig or some such subject.

Feed The Need For A Trade Show

     Whilst mounted by sincere people, webinars lack delivering the standard feel of the fast-developing air cargo industry of 2020—the dynamic, electrically-charged atmosphere that networking at a trade show can provide and desperately needs at this time.

Street Smart

     Street Smart is the ability to think fast on your feet.
     Scott Rudin wrote a book defining street smart:
     “You've put yourself at risk and survived. Or thrived. Or have scars. You've been tested and have a bank of courage to depend on when you are tested again.”
     Book smarts, as Rudin framed it, mean someone who is good at following the rules.
     “These are people who get straight A’s, sit in the front, and perhaps enjoy crossword puzzles.
     “They like things that have singular right answers.
     “They like to believe the volume, and precision, of their knowledge can somehow compensate for their lack of experience applying it in the real world.”

The Opportunity

     But in the era of COVID-19, a new thinking has emerged as a major guiding value. It’s not just thinking in or outside the box, but rather with no box at all.
     We’ve thought about how we can handle the lack of face to face and easygoing, back-and-forth networking that air cargo desperately needs right now, while watching people in masks strapping cargo all over the aircraft. It reminded us of a line in the movie Fight Club:
     “How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?”
     Well, right now air cargo is in a fight to figure out what to do as an industry at a time when the world is aware of our business.
     We are all of us—big and small—at the doorstep of a golden opportunity to change more than the public’s perception about what our industry can accomplish. We can also change transportation itself in all forms of air cargo as well.
     Air cargo has become the greatest driver of revenue—with the most flights—across the airline industry, by virtue of COVID-19’s effect on consumer travel. At this time of maximum exposure, we need to leverage our book smarts and also our traditional street smarts into a new deal to build a better air cargo industry.

The Great Outside

     In New York City, a major portion of my education was as a salesman walking the streets of Manhattan for Ballentine Beer. The experience taught me a lot about street smarts.
     Today I see restaurant after restaurant—not only in Manhattan but also out in the neighborhood boroughs—where street smart restauranters have set up sidewalk cafes to attract diners.
     To some, my city may appear like a poor man’s Paris, but in truth the sidewalks and streets of New York are alive and filling with more and more physical distanced (what the hell is social about social distancing?) diners as a welcome, charming new look for New York.

Street Smart Outside Cargo Conference

     So, I’m wondering: why don’t we organize an outside air cargo trade show in Palm Springs or Bavaria or Istanbul, sometime after a vaccine has been released?
     Put up some airy tents outside and build some strong, meaningful sessions and dinners so that everyone can get back to the future?
     I recall when CNS met a few years back in Palm Springs, thinking how much better it would have been if everyone could have conducted business outside.
     This is a call to the trade show companies that have long profited from air cargo events: create something radically different, extend a helping hand to put us all together for the good of our industry.
     Air cargo needs some street smart thinking.
Geoffrey