Not sure if H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum of Dubai, the chief force behind Emirates Airlines will cut the ribbon at IATA WCS, the big cargo show in town this week, but I remember standing with him, when he visited the TIACA show in Seattle, Washington in 1994.
     Later we were invited upstairs to his hotel suite as he hosted a small gathering. He was gracious and forthcoming and left no doubt that Emirates would change the world of aviation not only from the Middle East but by its expansive world view everywhere.
     Just two years later Dubai and Emirates Airline hosted the 1996 TIACA Air Cargo Forum in its World Trade Center. For organized air cargo and specifically TIACA, it was the landmark event that generated the interest and revenue; in 2025 it can be recalled as the single most important event that TIACA had or might ever hope to host again.
     Never say never, but when the late Maurice Flanagan was at the helm, Emirates stepped out into the world of commercial aviation with its sleeves rolled up, ready to accelerate SkyCargo into the heavens with imagination and great spirit.
     Our favorite picture, (above) caught in a legendary moment almost 40 years ago was snapped at the TIACA 1996 Air Cargo Forum opening with Ram Menen (left) who led the team that masterminded SkyCargo into a global giant and H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum (good as his words to us in Seattle two years earlier).
     Our hope looking ahead now in 2025 is that IATA World Cargo Symposium (the lofty title attached) to its mandated meeting of all the airline membership cargo chieftains this week in the bigger, more expansive Dubai World Trade Center generates some measure of the excitement of nearly 40 years earlier when TIACA had its clock wound in this beautiful city.
Geoffrey