TODAY:

NEARER MY GOD TO THEE      As war rages in Iraq, we hope for an end to the conflict and the safe return of our troops.      Everyone should be delivered out of harm’s way.      The picture reminds us that everybody fighting right now seems to have God on their side.      The closest we ever came to any direct contact was one sunny afternoon here at LaGuardia.      For what its worth, right now, we pray for peace.      You may wonder, if there is one picture in 28 years of publishing, that is our favorite?      The answer is yes, and an absolute no-brainer.      Here is the LaGuardia Airport Manager and our dear departed friend, Tim Peirce presenting a book we wrote, to Pope John Paul as the Pontiff concluded a whirlwind Papal visit to New York City.      The tour was a big deal that set the City on its ear. They even cut up the red carpet His Holiness walked upon, to and from his TWA B727, and handed out little squares to airport workers as a souvenir of the event.      The picture is our favorite because if you look closely, the words Geoffrey Arend can be seen on the spine of the book.      Imagine if someone got a picture of that, we thought, as we watched the event unfold on television.      Well, somebody did.      Tim made sure of that.      Come to think of it, Tim Peirce, in our mind, is the best airport manager in history.      No matter what happened at LaGuardia, Tim always knew what to do about it.      Maybe that’s why we miss him everyday. But characteristically Tim left us this picture that makes us laugh a little every time we look at it.      Now we share a little secret with you.      We both know of two books that Pope John Paul has read. (GA)

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Black Tuesday . . . Comments earlier this week by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta that the U.S. Government is watching the airline situation carefully as losses mount sound empty and pointless as right on the heels of that speech delivered to the 2003 FAA Forecast Conference in Washington D.C. on Tuesday March 18th, Gordon Bethune, Continental Airlines CEO said: “We feel like a candle that is losing its oxygen supply and dimming slowly. We are not going to sit idly by and wait for others to save us. We can no longer wait. Five of the top people in our company are leaving this week,” Bethune said. Right after that, Gordo axed 1,200 other CO people he didn’t mention by name. “It shows we need to look in every nook and cranny to find every dollar,” he said. CO has lost more than $900 million while axing more than 5,500 jobs since September 11, 2001. That Standard & Poor’s statement Tuesday that it may lower credit ratings for 11 airlines because of war with Iraq came one day after Moody’s Investors Service said it might downgrade Delta, Northwest and Continental. Also, United Airlines on Tuesday forecast a first-quarter operating loss of $877 million and said liquidation is a distinct possibility. The Air Transport Association said Tuesday that if the war with Iraq lasts 90 days, it could cost the industry an additional $10.7 billion. Although, maybe no real long-term financial answer, one airline may have found a way to change things in a hurry. American Trans Air Inc. (ATA), one day after Black Tuesday, announced on Wednesday that it changed its name. American Trans Air is now ATA Airlines, the nation’s 10th largest passenger carrier and America’s top operator of commercial and military charters. ATA Airlines (as far as we can tell, everybody has always called the 30-year old company ATA) hubs its scheduled service at Chicago’s Midway Airport and Indianapolis International Airport . . . Airlines slashing schedules, as TV newsreaders ride along with combat soldiers on tanks in Iraq, act like cheerleaders and a new term is born, embedded reporting.” Meantime U.S. Congress is nowhere near coming up with anything like the money airlines need and deserve to get despite continued misfortune beyond their control. Comments of British Airways executive Rod the boss over there, that BA with a big cash hoard would not “piddle away” its money on ailing airlines, was in response to AMR bankers’ request for some help. What a crummy thing to say. Unnecessary and crude, by any measure, is that kind of talk right now. Although AA may have enough cash to survive, notwithstanding a long-held belief that AA cannot and will not allow UAL any advantage (UAL currently in Chapter 11), it would serve BA just perfect, if the aforementioned dropped fares drastically on BA’s bread and butter routes across the Atlantic where BA realizes 38% of its net revenue, despite, we hear, giving cargo rates away. We like Jürgen Weber, the boss at Lufthansa who after meeting with beleaguered executives from United Airlines about six months ago in Brazil said: “When a friend comes to you for help, you do what you can.” Now whether or not LH came up with anything for UAL is not the point here. Airlines, especially the great ones can and should expect at least some semblance of civility from their front line executives even though they go at it tooth and nail for business. Jürgen Weber also said recently: “A crises is rarely a time for visions.” But the good CEO of Lufthansa must imagine he is seeing things as the German flag carrier continues to ground airplanes and cut schedules as business slows. On the other hand, Lufthansa delivered $720 million in profits during 2002 versus about that in losses in 2001. “When Wolfgang Mayrhuler takes over my job at Lufthansa next June he will captain a well-run ship.” Well, good for Wolf, we say. But since when is Lufthansa operating ships we wonder? . . . The good news for air shippers is U.S. Customs that had put forth a draconian eight hour prior notice for international air cargo shipment requirement last month for air cargo is showing signs of actually listening to the industry. U.S. Treasury Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) said it thinks submissions can be made an hour before shipment. The edict, while not written in stone, has yet to be approved but what a collective sigh of relief can be heard around the world . . . Cut and Slash time as Air Canada will downsize its non-union worker force by 20 per cent. Some estimates say that airline job losses, now that war has commenced with Iraq, could top 70,000 . . . Cargolux, Cathay Cargo, Singapore Airlines Cargo and others slap Iraq War surcharge on cargo shipments to cover higher oil, security and insurance costs . . . European budget carrier EasyJet abandoned its plans to buy BA’s loss-making German arm, citing the country’s tough labor laws and sagging market demand. BAE Systems confirmed it was to ax more than 1,000 jobs on Britain’s Nimrod patrol plane project . . .

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MOVING AER LINGUS CARGO

     For as long as anyone can remember, Aer Lingus Cargo operated their cargo operations out of Building 68 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
     But in the 28 years that we have been around, Aer Lingus Cargo has only had three cargo sales managers in North America: Bill Birnbach, Pat Phelan, and currently William Mercado.

PILOT TO CO-PILOT

     “God Is My Co-Pilot” was Col. Scott’s great book and later blockbuster movie starring Dennis Morgan.
     Now an air freight company trademarks the name Co-Pilot to describe an Internet enhancement.
     We can imagine, from all of this what it would be like to awaken after a 60-year sleep, and try to make sense out of what you once knew.
     Somehow “Internet is My Co-Pilot” doesn’t move us as much as God does. On the other hand, having God on your side can be described as one reason the world is as unsettled as it seems right now.
     Internet Co-Pilot 2003 is a private extranet, protected by username, password, customer number and site number.
     Once Pilot Co-Pilot customers are registered, they can access all of Co-Pilot’s features 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
     “At Pilot, we are always looking to add new elements to our service that will make the shipping transaction easier for our customers,” Pilot chairman, president, and CEO, Richard G. Phillips told NewsFlash.
     “Co-Pilot provides our customers with seamless access to shipping, tracking and reporting on their shipments, increasing the efficiency of their logistics programs.
     “Co-Pilot’s proprietary technology was developed completely in-house.
     “Pilot Co-Pilot offers an array of features in one convenient place. “Companies can use ‘Airbill Entry’ to request shipping quotes, schedule pickups, print shipping manifests and create their own ‘Address Book’ for easy access to the customers they ship to most often, speeding the shipment process.
     “‘Service Guide’ helps companies determine the best and most appropriate level of service for each shipment. Helpful email ‘Alerts’ provide instant shipment notification of the status of each shipment as it moves from one location to the next, and the exact date and time it is delivered. ‘Tracking’ enables customers to track their shipments by shipment number, reference number or date range. Finally, there are ‘Reports,’ which can be customized and generated for Shipper, Consignee or Billable Party, a time-saver for those situations when companies need to view just outbound, inbound or billed-to shipments in a particular report.”
     Now if a cargo company called Sky Wings comes up with a new product wrinkle they might think of naming same “Wing and A Prayer” after the old Don Ameche World War II epoch.
     Meantime “Pilot to Co-Pilot” communicates naturally as air cargo continues its journey along the information super highway.

On February 28, 2003, a federal jury in Portland, Oregon, awarded Evergreen International Airlines, Inc., more than $16.6 million in damages against Asiana Airlines Cargo for breach of a three-year contract to lease one of Evergreen’s Boeing 747 cargo airplanes. The jury of five men and three women took less than two hours to reach their unanimous verdict, that Asiana’s breach of the contract caused Evergreen to lose 18 months of revenue. Federal Magistrate Judge, Dennis Hubel, had previously ruled that Asiana’s attempted termination of the contract in August, 2001, was invalid and constituted a breach of the contract with Evergreen. In January 2000, McMinnville, Oregon-based Evergreen entered into the contract with Asiana, under which Asiana committed to use one of Evergreen’s 747-200 cargo airplanes on routes between the United States and Seoul, Del Smith. A deal is a deal. South Korea, for a minimum number of hours each month. However, in late August 2001, after only a year and one half of operation, Asiana attempted to terminate the contract. The jury concluded that a deal is a deal, and awarded Evergreen nearly all of the damages it asked for. During the five-day trial, Evergreen’s Chairman and founder, Del Smith, testified that Evergreen had the capacity in its fleet of 747s to have continued to serve Asiana had they not breached the contract and to have served all of their other customers as well. “We’re very pleased with the jury’s decision,” said Mr. Smith. “They listened carefully to the testimony at the trial and clearly understood that our company took a substantial blow when Asiana breached the contract.”

Phoenix Fliers: Delta’s Barry Lein and USAirways’ Tony Lefebevre Planning air cargo’s future.

     The numbers by the way are a record for any of the three associations involved (Air Courier Conference of America, Airforwarders Association, Air and Expedited Motor Carriers Association) at any one of their formerly held individual yearly events.
     What great news, AirCargo 2003 is, in what seems like a never-ending Winter in North America, weather, business and otherwise.
     This conference may be a new invention but its timing was just perfect.
     And anybody who knows anything at all will tell you that no matter what you do, it takes good timing.
     Faced with no major air cargo meeting until late spring and early Fall 2003, some people pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and delivered just what this industry needs.
     Here we are post 9/11 and pre-Iraq, kind of slowly twisting in the wind, with fortunes cascading all around us like that giant waterfall in the movie ‘The Fugitive’.
     Where business is good, it isn’t really.
     But fly into the face of hard times and you find that some people, air cargo people, find a way.
     Joe Morris spokesman for the group put it this way:
     “Preliminary feed-back about the sessions and other events from attendees is that the meeting was a major success.
     “The exhibit hall was packed during open hours and during off-hours, with exhibitors indicating that traffic was good, business was excellent, and most will return next year.”
     Conferees were also unanimous in their praise for the event.
     “Attendance was exceptional at the sessions—which included two specific panels—one featuring a group of industry people discussing challenges and opportunities post 9/11, the other a free-wheeling and wide-ranging panel featuring the cargo heads of all the major airlines.”
     One panel included Barry Lien of Delta, Mark Nijarian of American, Tony Lefebevre of US Airways and Jim Friedel of Northwest.
     All may turn inward, back at the office with a combination of hope, determination and maybe even a crystal ball when it comes to trying to figure out what will happen to their business six months down the road.
     But in Phoenix, all things considered, the exceptional group was on subject as they discussed what can be done to streamline and advance the future of their business and the industry as well.
     “It’s been our best Conference & Expo so far in terms of both quality and participation,” said Airforwarders Association Executive Director David Wirsing.
     “Air Cargo 2003 shows an air cargo industry quickly getting itself back on track, as it looks forward to returning to health in 2003, and beyond.”
     “The Airforwarders Association, with a full membership of more than 250 members, was founded in 1990, and today provides lobbying, training, information, and other value-added services to the air forwarding community.
     “Additionally we are actively promoting the benefits of internet enabled technology to our members.
     “In this endeavor ACA has the support and active participation of a number of technology suppliers who are also members of the association.
     “In Phoenix as example, we offered breakout sessions sponsored by Cargo Portal Service and GF-X to enlighten and broaden our participants understanding of IT.
     “It is a slow process to get agents off the phone and on the computer, but we are determined.
     “The efficiencies gained as the evolution of air cargo to computer-based technologies continues, will be significant both for the agents and their transportation providers.”
     “All parties have agreed to join again next year to produce AirCargo 2004, which will be held at Saddlebrook Resort, Tampa, Florida, March 7-9, 2004.”
     We like this combination.
     Too many trade shows are thinly veiled vehicles to drag bucks and otherwise out of an industry that has precious little money and now even less time to waste.
     Good for AirCargo 2003.
     Bring on AirCargo 2004!
     More info: www.acca.com or contact info@aemca.com.

Rick Shuyler

Shuyler, who was born to lead a great armada of commercial airplanes, must have at least fleetingly wondered, if it was worth it.
     But if this likable and low-key professional had any doubts, they were his, and his alone.
     Now Jeff Erickson, as President of Atlas Air Holdings and newest board member, teams up with old Atlas hand John Blue who will serve as interim Chairman until as reported here exclusively two weeks ago Linda Chowdry assumes command April 1st.
     Also departing the Atlas orbit is Stan Wraight and Thomas Scott, both Michael Chowdry holdovers.
     But this is for Rick.
     When you look at their aircraft or even company stationary, the stylized image of Atlas lifting up the world stares right back at you.
     But to Rick Shuyler, who carried Atlas Air around on his shoulders for more than 15 months through the most tumultuous time in all of airline history, must be recorded recognition of what can be termed as achieving the impossible.
     Rick Shuyler did a damn great job against overwhelming odds.
     Many wizened old air cargo business hands thought Atlas would not last 15 minutes (let alone 15 months) after Michael.
     Rick Shuyler proved them all wrong.
     Maybe, if most of the rest of the world of commercial aviation had not gone completely to pot, he might still be at Atlas.
     But in the high flying world of big finance people, even the good ones can become expendable.
     But make no mistake, Rick Shuyler goes out a winner.
     Jeffrey Erickson said:
     “Rick Shuyler led Atlas through the most challenging chapter in the company’s history. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
     If the esteemed Mr. Erickson’s comment sounds like an endorsement, you could think that.
     As he trudged away from the big white office building atop a knoll in Purchase, New York, somebody heard a voice amongst the rustling of the trees whispering:
     “Rick—thanks for the ride.”
     Atlas lives, to lift another day.

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