FT082923

#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE

Vol. 22 No. 29	Tuesday August 29, 2023

    Guillaume Halleux has departed as Chief Officer Cargo at Qatar Airways Cargo after a seven year plus run at the airline.
     At this writing nobody has been named, in fact nothing more than a “ush” emanates out of Doha.
     Guillaume at QR was an original.
     His brightness lit up the room.
     Bringing on the cargo product offering as COVID tightened its grip, Guillaume also stood alone atop an airline-driven logistics outreach to better the lot of both, less privileged people and raising attention to the plight of world wildlife.
     He was among the first to raise sustainability in air cargo as he guided Qatar Cargo to the top of the form.
     He once told me, “no matter what, you’ve got to have heart in dealing with people, both customers and employees.
     “We should always use our passion for good, to look out for each other whether in business or in our personal lives,” Guillaume said.
     Not since Ram Menen drove Emirates SkyCargo to the top in air cargo, has an individual with the goods risen to the top of world cargo as has Guillaume Halleux.
     With Guillaume it was not just heft, but also heart.
     We wish him well.
     Here are some words for Guillaume from the global air cargo community.

Tina Balachandran

“Having had the opportunity to work with Guillaume Halleux for initiatives around creating mental health awareness and support for employees during my tenure with the airline, one of the key attributes that stood out was a leader with a heart, so it's beautiful to see a piece written to acknowledge this . . . "Guillaume at QR was an original" indeed and "it was not just heft, but also heart."
“Wishing you the very best Guillaume Halleux and hope to stay connected!”

Harpinder Birah

“I have had the privilege to support Guillaume Halleux over the last 3 years and he is a true testament to leadership, passion, drive and fairness.
"Best of luck in your new adventure.”

Lloydon Bryan Alleyne

“GH was a great leader and boss. It was a pleasure working with him. His eye for detail was extraordinary.”

Hajer Mahmoud
“I was one of his employees. Guillaume was very human, his door always open, listening to each and every one, open, supportive, he has a positive impact in changing my professional path by facilitating to go back to study, thank you Guillaume Halleux and wish you all the best!"

Kamilla Nikolett Kelemen “I call myself lucky to have the opportunity to meet him and work with him. I can count on one hand the number of executives I met during my professional career whom I call LEADERS. He is ultimately at the top! A leader who walks the talk and still remains HUMAN (yes, with big caps). Forever respect and thank you for all your help, Guillaume! Wish you all the best in the future!"

     Damn The Torpedoes Full Speed Ahead could be the rallying cry of 2023 as Rajesh Panicker, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Kale Logistics Solutions is over the moon.
     Kale Logistics Solutions (Kale) recently announced that it has been appraised at level 5 of ISACA’s Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI®). This remarkable milestone reaffirms the company's commitment to delivering high-quality software solutions and highlights its dedication to process excellence.
     Right now only 60 IT companies in India are CMMI level 5 certified, and Kale is one of them.
     CUNIX Infotech performed the appraisal.
     “It is a proud moment for Kale’s Software Development and Allied Support Services unit to be appraised of this certification as we are constantly achieving new milestones despite uncertainties”, Rajesh declared.
     “With our dedicated, quality-focused team, we achieved this highest level of certification. And we are now in the league of those blue-chip companies who are CMMI level 5 certified."
     CMMI is a proven, outcome-based performance model and the globally accepted standard for improving capability, optimizing business performance, and aligning operations to business goals. It is a global process improvement model for assessing the effectiveness and maturity of processes used to develop and deliver products and services.
     Kale Logistics Solutions is a global bright spot leading the way as an IT solution partner for several Fortune 500 companies worldwide, offering a comprehensive suite of IT solutions for the Logistics Industry. With in-depth domain knowledge and technical expertise, Kale has created a suite of comprehensive IT enterprise systems and Cargo Community Platforms, which offer a single electronic window capable of supporting operational flows, percolating data to various stakeholders, and facilitating the paperless exchange of trade-related information between stakeholders.
More: www.kalelogistics.com. info@kalelogistics.com

FlyingTalkers

First Half Post Covid Challenging

Reading the lengthy article in the most recent FlyingTypers regarding RACOS by Don Muscatello I can only applaud this initiative, indeed I can only agree with his #1 finding that much of the air cargo industry suffers from woefully inadequate infrastructure. And I have to add that the result of this inadequate infrastructure inevitably plays out in the form of collateral damage to ULD, costing the airline industry in the order of US$ 300 million a year in direct repair costs plus considerably more in indirect costs such as aircraft damage- yes IATA figures tell us that ULD are the number one cause of ground damage to aircraft, caused almost entirely due to loading of damaged ULD to the aircraft.
ULD Damage Poster

     ULD CARE has been banging on about this situation for many years now, launching a number of initiatives such as our video SOS-ULD and our publication ULD Explained, and right now are on the point of launching our latest initiative, a Digital ULD Control Receipt or UCR.
     To the uninitiated this may not sound particularly earth shaking, after all what’s a UCR, but for those people whose job involves managing the fleet of roughly 1 million ULD that support the global air cargo operation this is a critical part of their function.
     As with any intermodal transportation ULD are frequently transferred from party to party through a complex chain before and after the goods actually fly anywhere and the purpose of the UCR is to record these changes in custody so that the airline’s ULD management team sitting maybe half a world away can keep track of their assets.      Established as an IATA standard around the beginning of widespread widebody containerised cargo operations 5 decades ago the paper based UCR is well overdue for digitalization, a challenge ULD CARE has been perusing for some years now. And finally, we find ourselves with a following wind, as the use of Apps, API’s and related IT processes become both widely available and affordable.
     It is in the interest of all participants in the air cargo environment that sufficient ULD of the correct size, configuration and in airworthy condition, along with support items such a cargo nets and straps, be readily available to move cargo, and the application of digitalization to tracking and recording the transfer of ULD as they move between these parties goes a long way towards meeting this need.
Bob Rogers

     In recent years there has been a lot of talk of “Smart ULD”, referring to the use of BLE or similar tracking devices to keep track of ULD as they move around the global system. ULD CARE is all in favour of such systems and has followed their introduction with great interest but with around 1 million ULD out there, moving between countless airports, terminals and off airport locations achieving a global system wide coverage remains a distant dream. This is why the digital UCR (E-UCR) is a key piece in the jigsaw of ULD management, requiring as it does no more than a smart phone.
     To conclude, ULD are the oil that lubricate the gears of the air cargo industry and just like an engine that has been allowed to run dry will seize up so will the air cargo operation grind to a halt in the absence of adequate efficient ULD operations.
     Digitization of the UCR can deliver very significant efficiency gains to all stakeholders in this industry, the time is right!
Bob Rogers

Geoffrey Arend II, Emily Arend and Flossie Arend

The 14th century Makli Necropolis near Thatta, Pakistan. All in the family . . . Geoffrey Arend II is flanked by sisters Emily (l) and Flossie Arend (r).

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in 2020. We feel it's worth a Summer Fun revisit.

Dear Qatar Airways,

     I recently had the pleasure of flying business class from Doha to New York City over the holiday season. There is much to commend about your Qsuites—a quick google reveals countless flattering reviews of everything from your lie-flat seats to your capacious bathrooms. I enjoyed both of those features—the former because I love to sleep and the latter because I am a hapless klutz and need as much elbow room as can be spared when changing into my pajamas, which you also graciously provided—but you gave me something I’ve never had before, and now I’m hopelessly smitten. No, it’s not your mute, unobtrusive overhead lighting that mimics the passage of time from day to night, although kudos on that thoughtful touch. I have my Philips Hue lights to replicate that. No, it’s not your fully stocked amenities bags, or the little cubbies and footwell provided to store my things and put my feet up. No, it’s not your wide and generous selection of movies and television shows. It’s not even your dividers, which I would relish on nights when my husband is taking up a little too much of the bed—what I wouldn’t give to throw up a Qsuite wall and secure my equal space.
#endmanspreading
     No, the thing that won my heart, that had me pressing the attendant button for more, was your karak chai. Perhaps I should explain myself.
     My trip to Doha didn’t terminate in Doha. It connected to a flight to Pakistan, where I proceeded to spend almost three weeks lusting after and being denied chai. It might sound silly, or simple—you might admonish me to “reach a little higher, Flossie”—but all I wanted in Pakistan was a delicious cup of chai. But no matter where I went, chai was metaphorically smacked out of my hands, and oh, did it burn my very soul. I was scalded by the lack.
     Let me explain myself further.
Pakistani Chaiwalla      For all of my life, for as long as I can remember visiting my Pakistani relatives stateside, my favorite thing has been the tea. Even when I was probably much too young for caffeine, my Pakistani relatives offered me tea. South Asians love their tea, and after my first cup, I understood why. It’s black tea, evaporated milk, and a little sugar, but it tastes like so much more than the sum of its parts. There’s something in the alchemy of those three ingredients, some heady, smoky sweetness, that I’m almost certain in coming together forms an entirely new element. Chai. I’ve tried to replicate it at home, but it never tastes the same. Maybe there exists a fourth ingredient—family—that makes it taste a certain way, but that feels overly poetic and frankly unsatisfying. I think there is a secret and elusive knowledge hidden from me. Maybe the eternal pursuit is part of it.
     Which brings me to chasing chai in Pakistan. Everywhere we went, my eyes saucered at the prospect of nearby chai. We took a street tour and I wallowed near the chai counter, surreptitiously taking video of the chai walla as he roiled a giant vat of creamy chestnut-colored chai over high heat. I was hypnotized by his practiced efforts, waterfalling chai from container to container and ladling it into waiting cups. I made many faces at my mother—I’m sure looking very much like Oliver Twist—but she always pressed her eyes shut and quickly, subtly shook her head by the smallest degrees in that universal gesture of ABSOLUTELY NOT that is so rapid, so subdued as to only be seen by one person, and but briefly. I wasn’t allowed to have any chai. It didn’t matter that the water was surely boiled, because what if it wasn’t boiled enough? What if the milk wasn’t pasteurized? What would happen to my American constitution (the only American constitution I now heartily damn!) if I drank this chai made from all these unknown sources, in a country where I absolutely could not and should not drink the water? I enjoyed it exactly twice—once, in a restaurant deemed safe and once again, in the home of a relative where both the source of the water and the milk was secure. Otherwise, I spent close to three weeks in Pakistan with no chai.
Summer Fun      So, dear Qatar Airways, when I boarded your flight from Doha to New York City one of the first things I asked for was your cardamom karak chai. And then I asked for it again. And again. And your flight attendants, ever obliging, didn’t balk at my requests, and dutifully brought me chai after chai. It was the most delicious drink I’ve had in a while. I was determined to try the saffron karak chai as well but after three cardamom karak chais and a slight tremor, I realized I couldn’t manage it. Your business class Qsuites are lovely—truly, the height of flying anywhere, as far as I can tell—but it was your humble cup of karak chai that made me happiest. Oh, and the flight attendant making my bed. I felt like a kid again. What better praise is there?

Love,
Flossie
P.S. Is there a recipe?
P.P.S. Do you bottle your karak chai and if so, can you ship it to New York City?

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
Vol. 22 No. 26 Think Ahead To RACOS Chuckles For August 9, 2023 India Gets Late Summer Over The Moon	Vol. 22 No. 27 Can Freighters Navigate The Perfect Storm? India Cargo—Ask Shesh Air Babies	Vol. 22 No. 28 Tea For The Tillerman, Please

Publisher-Geoffrey Arend • Managing Editor-Flossie Arend • Editor Emeritus-Richard Malkin
Film Editor-Ralph Arend • Special Assignments-Sabiha Arend, Emily Arend

Send comments and news to geoffrey@aircargonews.com
Opinions and comments expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher but remain solely those of the author(s).
FlyingTypers reserves the right to edit all submissions for length and content. All photos and written material submitted to this publication become the property of FlyingTypers Media.
Copyright ©2023 FTMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
More@ www.aircargonews.com

100% Green