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W E E K L Y   A R C H I V E S

WEEK OF OCTOBER 7, 2002

TONY IS FRANK
by Geoffrey Arend

     There has been a change at Finnair Cargo, the Americas. New cargo area director is Anthony LaRusso.
     Actually what’s old and good about Finnair Cargo, is new again.
     Tony has been a fixture at JFK International Airport for the past 23 years, while in the service of cargo at Finnair.
     What’s interesting here is that Finnair Cargo promoted Tony LaRusso up through the organization to a key managerial post.
     What that tells both customers and employees alike, is that this is one company with a culture that builds and develops its business from within.
     Finnair’s reputation as one of the better air carriers is well deserved.
     Nobody could doubt that Finnair has always had a serious take on air cargo.
     In fact, since the carrier started service into the U.S. back in 1969, air cargo has occupied a position of pride and importance for Finland’s airline long-haul success.
     Although Finnair had firm plans to fly into New York from Helsinki in 1940, and had advertised the service at the New York World’s Fair of 1939-40, Richard Nixon was U.S. President when the first scheduled flights from Finland into JFK International Airport in New York commenced.
     Finnair front line aircraft at time featured a long thin tube Douglas DC-8 with a big cargo door cut up front of the wing, allowing main-deck containers and pallets.
     More than one early traveler was overheard remarking as the DC-8 boarding process began: “Man, you must have a lot of seats up front. I’m in first class and my seat is behind the wing.”
     For most of recent memory, Tony LaRusso has partnered with Frank McDonnell.
     Actually Tony hired Frank a decade ago, in a similar fashion that the old cargo pro, Vinnie Pannullo, now retired, hired Tony twenty-three years ago.
     The way things often work out in a compact organization is, that from time to time, people pull double duty or even stand in for each other.

Tony and Frank: Newly appointed Finnair Cargo Area Director Anthony (Tony) LaRusso with Frank McDonnell at Cargo Building 151, JFK, NY

     Tony and Frank have had clearly defined areas of responsibility—Tony in sales, and Frank in service.
     But, agents everywhere have confused who is who for years, leading to the inevitable question of which one is Tony, and which one is Frank?
     We are sitting in Mr. LaRusso’s office inside Finnair Cargo headquarters atop Building 151 at JFK International Airport.
     Outside, the wide panorama of Manhattan Island 12 miles away is clearly outlined against the sky of a late September afternoon.
     Although it is a dress-down Friday, Tony is in shirt and tie, but his quick smile and easy manner puts a business casual atmosphere about the office.
     He is built solidly, with a steady clear gaze, the result of a lifetime of working out and participating in several sports including baseball, football and basketball.
     Now, Tony keeps in shape as a runner.
     Finnair, although itself never out of shape, has not been immune to the tailspin business climate since 9/11.
     Although he campaigned and won his job assignment with hard work, loyal service and a thorough written outline of where the air cargo department in America needs to go in the future, Tony LaRusso knows that he has a mighty task ahead.
     Getting the future U.S. program right will be no walk in the park.
     In many ways, Tony LaRusso is in for the run of his life.
     But first things, first. Which twin is the Tony?
     “It’s funny,” Tony said, “but when a mix up occurs we both just go with it.
     “Usually the caller or visitor figures it out.
     “It’s no big deal—we actually have fun with it.”
     Tony is right. Plain speaking and clear thinking are at work here.
     We are reminded of a very well-known restaurant called Musso and Frank located on Hollywood Boulevard near Vine Street, out where they make the movies.
     For more than 60 years few people have known which character was Frank or Musso at that place, because the only thing that really matters is if the food is any good.
     “When people call us we get to the point, and let the rest sort itself out.
     “It should be mentioned, that right now Frank who is doing terrific work having moved into my old post in sales as he also covers other responsibilities, is the indispensable part of the future here.
     “I’ve never much cared what folks call me, as long as the phone keeps ringing,” Tony smiles.
     What you notice right away about Tony LaRusso is that less than a month on the job he already is willing to praise his people. It takes a certain amount of self confidence and spirit to do that.
     Tony is both self-effacing and direct to the point at the same time.
     In many ways, Tony LaRusso is a renaissance man in air cargo.
     His ideas are both well thought out and artfully articulated.
     He also has had some great basic training leading up to his current posting.
     Although he spent much of the last ten years in cargo sales, he spent his first years at Finnair in service and operations.
     Tony knows full well that longevity in air cargo also means that this is no fast buck to the airline or short shrift to the customer business:
     “We get to reinvent ourselves every day. Long before the aircraft has landed with one shipment, we are planning what succeeding flights will deliver.”
     In that respect Mr. LaRusso noted that business has continued on the out-bound side during 2002 as “tough.”
     But he adds right away:
     “It really doesn’t matter what rate you sell air cargo to the customer. After the sale, the shipper will still demand service, information and delivery plus all the benchmarked bells and whistles along the way.
     “We recognize the need to be competitive but we simply will not and cannot give away rates while maintaining our ability to deliver a truly superior air cargo product to Scandinavia, The Russian Federation, the Baltic’s and onward to our exciting new destinations in China and Asia
     “The Finnair Cargo advantage for shippers doing business in our part of the world in addition to our MD- 11 service daily (ex-Tuesday ) JFK/Helsinki, is the B747 freighter to Gothenburg and Helsinki.“

Frank and Tony: B747 all-cargo lift JFK-Helsinki connects to A300B4F to Sweden and beyond.

     But now we have added an A300-B4 main deck freighter operating Monday thru Friday between Helsinki and Malmo with an extensive road feeder network serving Gothenburg, Oslo, Copenhagen and Billund.
     “These flights interface perfectly with our New York freighter and our extensive truck network. Shippers get main deck cargo delivery in Finland on Sunday and delivery via Gothenburg, Mondays for consignments aboard our weekly New York freighter.
     “Basically the freighter to freighter connection cuts travel time for cargo by a minimum of a full day.
     “We are looking to strengthen our relationship with our GSA network here. During the upcoming months I plan to tour the entire network and talk to our business partners. One idea is to make some joint sales calls where possible. It’s important for all our partners to know that the airline wants to do whatever it can to make doing business with Finnair the preferred choice.”
     Frank McDonnell walks into the room. A recent paint job has been applied to his office where he has been sitting working the phones and pouring over reports and plans while a big candle flickers as pages are turned. The candle slakes the paint.
     But nothing going on at Finnair Cargo USA today diminishes the sense of promise, as a new era takes wing.
     Frank looks at Tony, and they smile.
     These people seem to really like each other.
     Everything else will come easier because of that.

LATE NEWS

Japan Airlines announces orders for two B747-400 all-cargo aircraft in front of an expected order of up to eight of the type by China Airlines Cargo next month. Does the news mean that business is finally picking up? Well it is certainly better than the poke in the eye results experienced by the manufacturer up until now. And while all of this needs to be firmed up, the orders do indicate a return of B747 aircraft sales with air cargo leading the way. The JAL order is for standard aircraft, not the longer range, better performance B747-400 freighter, three of which Air France Cargo will take delivery of October 16, October 28 and November 12. Right now (counting JAL), Boeing has sold exactly four B747Fs in 2002. Price? While the sticker says $200 million you can bet some aggressive discounts were involved . . . IATA launches its new six time yearly publication “Open Sky,” first issue October/November 2002, with a short coverage from various world regions. Interesting short stories here. One story titled ‘Afghanistan Rebuilding’ notes that the country needs about everything. No surprise there. Nice graphics in Open Sky even a short profile of Air Canada, but absolutely no cargo coverage. We notice, that IATA, as an organization, is often referred to by its initials. In turn, Open Sky likes to describe things by their initials. At times, we think that all the initials gets in the way of what Open Sky is trying to say. OK we know that IATA is International Air Transport Association and GPS is Global Positioning System. We know that, because we have been around for a long time, and we have OnStar in our Chevrolet. But elsewhere in the text, across 12 pages of Open Sky there must be fifty initialed descriptions in a half dozen articles. Sometimes the initializing starts to make your head swim as in one sentence of an article about SLA’s (Service Level Agreements). “From IATA’s view, SLA’s can be developed under the auspices of a competent regulator or directly between air navigation service providers (ANSPs) and their users, provided that, in the end, they review, Copenhagen, certain airports in Australia and Zurich and some ANSPs: e.g. UK NATS (under the NERL license), Dutch LVNL and others.” Not to be out done elsewhere in Open Sky , a headline on page eight declares: “IATA RNAV (GNSS) Initiatives.” The longer we looked at that one, we began to wonder how did a regular word manage to creep in? We like IATA, think the organization in business since 1944, does a great job. But as they toil to better our world, for crying out loud can’t they do something about the initials?