Air Cargo News

And Then There Was One — Pictured at the opening of Newark’s new air cargo transfer facility in March 1998 left to right, Alan Chambers, Angelo Pusateri, Richard Branson and John Ryan. With Alan Chambers and Angelo Pusateri’s retirement in 2002 and John Ryan’s departure last week, only Richard Branson remains at Virgin. Complete story follows.

JOHN RYAN EXPRESS

John Ryan

     Too many people have lost their jobs in 2003.While it is impossible to tell every story, we feel a certain sense of responsibility to tell of the fear and loathing and the dreaded pink slips being added, signaling anyone’s last pay stub.
     Before he got caught up in the airline horror story that we all live in 2003, John Ryan who was laid off from Virgin Cargo after 18 years last week, was present at the creation of the carrier’s U.S. sales department right from the get-go in 1985.In fact, for as long as anybody can remember, “Big John” has been practically the entire show at VS.
     Now too young to quit, and too old to cry about it, Ryan must set his sails, while looking elsewhere for opportunities in the industry.
     Near term, how he will fare is anybody’s guess.In just the past month FedEx announced that it would dump 10% of its workforce or 10,000 people, while elsewhere other air cargo companies are cutting and paring all around.
     One this is certain. John Ryan is among the best belly men that the air cargo industry has ever developed.
     He built the Virgin Cargo brand in America from a pip-squeak operation to tens of millions of dollars of throughput annually.
     He sells space aboard passenger aircraft with style and class, keeping his word, honoring rates, and stressing service delivery.
     John was grounded by events beyond his control, no doubt.
     Right now Singapore Airlines that owns 49% of Virgin, is absolutely apoplectic as it is about to report losses for the first time in its history.To say that SQ is completely unable to cope in a world where they are just like everybody else, is perhaps overstatement. But somewhere someone counted heads at VS, up and down the line, and must have called for blood. But you might wonder that if John was so good, how could he lose his job?
     That one is a bit tough to answer, at least in a believable, not to mention, authoritative manner.But here it is.
     John Ryan is a cargo guy, period. He never wanted the boss’s job, nor did he ever refuse an assignment. When VS told him to go to the UK a couple of years ago, that’s exactly what John did, working and developing closer ties between the two cargo operations that had previously been wider than an ocean apart.
     When his former boss at VS, Angelo Pusateri retired, a richer man, John dutifully fell into line under his new boss, Jack Fiol, here in America.
     Jack, by the way is a decent, soft-spoken executive to whom the thankless task was given, of axing the closest thing to an icon that Virgin Cargo in America has ever developed. Speaking of icons, one name that pops into mind is Sir Richard Branson.
     The most exciting airline executive in the world is out attempting to get his hands on British Airways fleet of Concorde SST’s, even offering up to a million British pounds apiece for the fleet of five aircraft.The aircraft are aged, but still sleek, serviceable, and able to do a job.
     Everybody, it seems, loves old airplanes.
     Then we think about John Ryan, and a thousand others out of work in air cargo, and wonder, why the same desire isn’t directed toward people?
     Perhaps that’s another story.“ I have nothing to be ashamed of, I did the job and delivered the goods. It’s time to move on,” John said.
     John Ryan indicated that he was disappointed, that John Lloyd, director of cargo at VS, for whom John had worked, had not called, to wish him well.“Maybe he will call. He must be busy.
     “Trying to make sense out of this time in my life right now, it’s good to think that whatever happens we all regard each other’s needs as human beings.
     ”But down is not out. John is still a young man with kids in school and a zest for the rigors of air cargo. The industry that is slated to continue its worldwide growth, outpacing even the passenger business, will certainly need all the professionalism and John Ryan’s it can get its mitts on.
     The John Ryan Express is on the handstand, or more accurately, somewhere out on the golf course right now, but before long it will be airborne once again, as it ought to be.
     Contact John: 516-375-7050 or 516-883-9382.

While Virgin Atlantic Airways wants to keep the Concorde SST in flight service, British Airways says it has 60 bids from museums around the world for its fleet of seven Concorde aircraft. The final decision of where the Concorde ends up, BA says depends on which venue allows the public the easiest access to view the aircraft. Actually where the SSTs that BA never really paid money for (unless one pound apiece paid to UK government counts) end up, depends on whether the British government will allow BA to get away with the nonsense of freezing entrepreneur Richard Branson out of attempting to make a go of flying the aircraft from London to places like New York and Dubai. The notion, that after decades of marketing snobbishness by BA and pricing tickets way out of reach of anybody but the rich and famous and other wealthy maniacs, that BA is concerned that Joe lunch bucket gets easy access to have his kids throw up on the SST leather seats, is seen by many as the real joke. What is no joke is word that money gurus at Standard and Poors looked over British Airways books and future plans recently and demoted the airlines long term stock to “junk”. We think that the word “junk” also applies to British Airways’ opinion of where “their” SSTs finally end up . . . Here’s one nobody could have dreamed would ever happen. A shadow-led government in Iraq inviting Arab neighbors to apply to an occupying authority (U.S.) to secure rights to fly to Baghdad. “We will select companies we deem acceptable on or about July 10,” Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) said. A Gulf Air spokesman told a reporter: “We have been in touch with the Iraqi authorities for some time.” Qatar Airways said “We have our office open with staff members already on station in Iraq.” Let’s hope both of those or any other carriers wanting to serve Iraq are sucking up to the right people. Meantime indications that Iraqis are growing increasingly disenchanted with the occupation is evident as daily reports of ambush, fighting and American and other soldiers being killed or seriously wounded have seemingly reached epidemic proportions. Since President Bush said the war was over two months ago, nearly 70 CPA troops died in separate incidences. If there is commercial service into Iraq soon, look for most of it to be air cargo as infrastructure re-equip and rebuild is followed by high-risk paid advisors in bulletproof vests . . . Nippon Airways (ANA) ordered 45 single-aisle, 142-seat 737-700s with delivery starting in December 2005. Value of aircraft is put at $50 million a copy but nobody in their right mind thinks ANA ponied up anywhere near that knid of money for each airplane. The single-seating-class airplanes, to be used on ANA’s domestic and regional flights, will be equipped with CFM56-7 engines, produced by a joint venture of General Electric and Snecma of France, Boeing said. ANA now operates 26 A320s, 25 B737-500s and two B737-400s. Japanese carriers have been using more Boeing jets than Airbus aircraft although the European maker has stepped up marketing efforts here . . . FedEx Malaysia gave a customer the chance to enjoy Paris. Tracy Wong entered and won FedEx’s “Ship Now To Europe” contest. Wong, who works in Petaling Jaya was awarded her prize from FedEx managing director for Malaysia and Brunei, Ramesh Kumar Singam. FedEx recently doubled up capacity to Europe with daily MD11 service connecting its Asia One Hub at Subic Bay, in the Philippines, to the FedEx Euro One at CDG in Paris. Big Purple also became “Hong Kong Tradeport’s” first tenant last week at the its new logistics operation located across the street from Hong Kong International Airport. “FedEx’s supply-chain management services are particularly targeted for companies which require global solutions that might include international shipping, local distribution and customised activities relating to the products or services,” said Dennice Wilson, vice-president, supply-chain solutions (Asia-Pacific) . . .

Always be a Paris, Always be a strike Dept.: ADP that operates Charles de Gaulle in Paris, had to delay opening of a new terminal at the airport because documents vital to certification were not delivered due to a French postal strike . . . Although it will cost fifteen bucks to log on two way e-mail aboard, United flights does hold the promise of better information for business travelers. Imagine that all those in seat phones will either have to lower call rates or go the way of eight track tapes . . . Northwest, Continental and Delta Airlines began phase one of their marketing alliance on Wednesday June 18th. Alliance passengers on any flights operated by the three new amigos, get frequent flier credits on any of the carriers and also get privileges to use the bathroom in each other’s club lounges. The snag is that earned frequent flier miles are no good right now, but they will be redeemable later this year. Must be an “if” in there someplace? . . . They tried to sell El Al employees on the idea of shares in the airline but as a group they purchased a scant over 2 million of the 34.7 million shares in the airline, available as part of the airlines IPO. Labor unrest and the general lousy condition of the market contributed to what must be termed an embarrasment for EL AL. The carrier resumes twice-weekly passenger flights Tel Aviv-Hong Kong, on June 28. Dora Kay was overheard commenting “Mazel Tov!”. . . Singapore Airlines continue its precipitant slide from the ranks of the super-untouchable, most admired airline companies as it axes 2,500 jobs amidst weak demand despite slashing fares and cutting frequencies. Watch for Singapore financials to report unaccustomed softness . . . “I have seen the ruler of the world of commercial aviation, and he’s Irish! “ in the low-fare market. Does that thought run through 42 year old Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary’s head when he looks at himself in the mirror? Maybe. According to one report, within the next few years, Ryanair could be the world’s third-largest airline in terms of market value at £3.2 billion, with even bigger international passenger numbers than British Airways. BA likes to brag that it is the world’s favourite airline.” What would happen if Ryanair carried more pax internationally? We suppose that eventuality would serve BA right. So far as we can tell, most of what BA CEO “Hot Rod” Eddington has brought to the table, are massive layoffs at the carrier while boosting his own salary. Besides BA otherwise proper and prim, insists on misspelling the word “favorite”! We like Michael O’Leary. He is the best known, most-successful of Ireland’s “Celtic Tigers.” We love his abrasive in-your-face style, especially the time he personally drove a ten ton tank onto Luton Airport to declare war on EasyJet, a rival low-cost airline. ‘We’re going to destroy the airline business as we know it in Europe,” said Michael O’Leary as he ordered 150 B737-800 jets from Boeing in early 2001. Even after 9/11, Ryanair ordered another 125 aircraft with options for a like number.Finnair always working toward the right place and time, resumes twice weekly Helsinki/Miami MD-11 service for the winter season Oct. 23 to March 28 2004 . . . Emirates having astounded the world with its aircraft mega-order in Paris adds a third daily service from Dubai to London Gatwick Aug. 1st. . . . AirTran Airways, a bright spot along the long slender fingers at ATL, puts up a pair of nonstop flights between Atlanta and Greensboro/ High Point/Winston Salem’s Piedmont Triad International Airport August 5th. . . . Northwest Airlines adds flights between Jackson, Miss. to Detroit hub beginning September 15th. Service includes two daily flights from Jackson International Airport to Detroit using regional jets. An indication of just how important air service is to the success of cities and towns in America, can be seen in the fact that a United States Senator, Trent Lott of Mississippi made the announcement: “This is a very important service upgrade for our state,” Lott, who heads a U.S. Senate subcommittee on aviation, said. “Now what else can we do for you NWA?” a Senate aide was overheard whispering to no one in particular . . . Leading the way, American Airlines Cargo expanded Expeditefs express cargo, offering the service from all of its cargo locations in Central America, Mexico and Venezuela on June 9. Expeditefs expresses, flight-specific, guaranteed service for cargo throughout American’s worldwide cargo network outbound from Caracas, Venezuela; Belize City, Belize; Cancun, Guadalajara and Mexico City, Mexico; Guatemala City; Panama City, Panama; San Salvador, El Salvador; San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Managua, Nicaragua; and San Jose, Costa Rica. “The Expeditefs product offers higher boarding priority and faster transit time,” said Mark Najarian, vice president-Sales and Marketing for American Airlines Cargo .“Expeditefs can make faster transfers at American’s gateways, saving up to a day in international transit In addition to faster transit time, customers can now track and trace their shipments on AACargo.com for instant access to all their shipment information. Best of all reliability numbers for the product have been excellent.” Time for good news from American? “It’s a start,” says Mark Najarian. More info: www.AACargo.com. . . . On June 2, UAL launched daily service between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Seoul Incheon (SEL). The expanded daily service utilizes Boeing 777s, adding needed capacity across the Pacific. “The new service adds to our already expansive network, allowing the shipping community access to the capacity and destinations, critical to their business needs,” said Roger A. Gibson, vice-president, United Cargo. Flight UA807 Departs SFO - 12:00 p.m. Arrives ICN 4:40 p.m. the next day. Seoul - San Francisco Flight - UA808 Departs SEL 1:45 p.m. Arrives SFO 8:20 a.m. “This new route launch solidifies United’s on-going commitment to the logistics industry,” Roger Gibson said . . . will inaugurate all-cargo flights from its hub at Rickenbacker Airport in Columbus, Ohio and Manaus and Sao Paulo, Brazil by next March having been awarded up to four weekly frequencies between the United States and Brazil by the U.S. DOT. Evergreen’s Executive Vice President Tony Bauckham said: “Evergreen is grateful to the DOT for the award of these important new rights to serve Brazil. This will provide Evergreen with a significant opportunity to add South American services to our worldwide network.” . . . Air Canada, bankrupt since April 1st, cleared a major hurdle on its recovery program reaching agreement with its pilots aimed at saving the beleaguered Canadian nation carrier upwards of a half billion dollars yearly. The carrier also said that it will launch Jazz as a national coast to coast low cost carrier . . . Pilots, by the way, improve with age. According to a detailed study by Johns Hopkins University, airline pilots are more apt to encounter difficulties aloft and on the ground based on inexperience rather than age . . . Latest ‘star’ in the world’s largest airline network Star Alliance, US Airways, which emerged from bankruptcy sixty days ago, already had cooperation agreements with United Airlines and Lufthansa. With US Airways, Star Alliance now serves 771 destinations in 133 countries . . . China National Aviation Corp. (CNAC) said it wants to buy out its partners in Dragonair, including local rival Cathay Pacific Airways which holds 19% of Dragonair. CNAC holds 43% of Dragonair, the airline at war with Cathay Pacific over Cathay’s scheme to fly to Mainland China across gravy routes that Dragonair wants to protect. CNAC would then presumably merge Dragonair with Air China and China Southwest Airlines as part of Beijing’s airline consolidation effort . . . Iraqi Airways, usually a money maker despite a dozen plus years of sanctions by just about everybody trailing behind the U.S. lead, wants to get airborne again. U.N. sanctions were lifted Wednesday, May 27, clearing the way for the airline to think about getting back into business. Grounded since the U.S.-led coalition offensive against Iraq was launched in March, Iraqi would probably take a few months to get its act together before regular service could start. The carrier’s aircraft are parked and in various levels of airworthiness at Baghdad, Damascus and Amman. Offices at Baghdad International Airport were taken over by the U.S. military in April . . . Emirates, is ready to order as many as 26 Boeing 777-300ER jets. The deal totals USD$5 billion, based on the USD$191 million average list price of the 777-300ER (extended range). Paris Air Show next month would be venue for order announcement that one report indicates could include more EK orders for the yet to be built 555-passenger A380s and also up to a dozen A340-600s plus options for more. In any event, both aircraft manufacturers are discounting way off the sticker price as world air fleets dot deserts everywhere, and aircraft orders are scarce in 2003. Stay tuned for final numbers as to what these aircraft really end up costing . . . No More Room In Coach . . . As suspected AA’s campaign adding less seats and more room in coach that mostly failed to attract any real attention is being dumped by the carrier’s new management initially on American’s A300-600 fleet where the chairs will be put back aboard the aircraft . . . Malaysia Airlines made $82.5 million for its year ended March 31st, the first profit since 1997, but the airline warned that right now business is lousy due to the usual suspects of war and pestilence. Cargo jumped last year at MAS up 17.7% to 2.7 billion ftks. MAS was restructured last year by Penerbangan Malaysian Berhard that now owns more than 69% of the carrier . . . Meanwhile further down the peninsula SIA Group sold off some airplanes, got a whale-sized tax break, and managed a better profit in 2002 than 2001, posting $618 million USD, proving once and for all that there are profits out there for the airline business. You just have to look harder, Bub . . . No Joy in Mudville Dept.—Those British Airways cost-cutting programs resulted in Europe’s biggest airline turning losses into a £135 million profit for the carrier’s recent March 31 reporting year. Last summer BA commenced slashing more than 10,000 airline jobs and plans to toss another 3,000 people out of work by this September. But now comes a hint from the boss of what’s next, may be more of the same. BA CEO ‘Hot’ Rod Eddington said: “These are good results in one of the toughest years in living memory. Despite the war and SARS, our people have made a tremendous contribution in delivering all of our first-year future size and shape targets.” We assume ‘Hot’ Rod was heaping praise on what is left of BA as a smaller airline that will get smaller, and that himself was also saluting people who committed job suicide, in whatever that statement was supposed to mean. What a world . . . Although Finnair posted a first-quarter loss and said the rest of 2003 so far does not look much better, stock in the Helsinki-based carrier rose 3% on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The company said its cost-cutting program would be expanded with short-term cuts, including some temporary layoffs of up to six weeks, a freeze on hiring and cuts in capacity expected to last until at least 2005. Earlier numbers had Finnair traffic overall down, by 14.3 percent in April, and 29.9 percent in Asia. In any event, frequencies to Beijing have been trimmed from five to one weekly from Helsinki until the end of August when flights will go to thrice weekly. In June AY flights go daily via MD-11s from New York to Helsinki offering shippers even more options. Founded four years before Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic from New York to Paris, Finnair is not only one of the world’s oldest, but also continues to be among the most solid, best run airlines in history. AY is 58% government-owned, serves 50 destinations, via a fleet of 60 aircraft. Finnair also holds the distinction of having taken delivery of the first production MD-11 to enter service and the last MD-11 ever built that AY added to its long range fleet just last year. Finnair is a member of OneWorld that includes American Airlines and British Airways. Last year, 7 million passengers flew Finnair, down from 7.5 million in 2001 . . . Air France Group scored a big fourth-quarter but still managed $138 million in profits for the financial year ended March 31, down 21.6% from the same time last year, but AF’s sixth straight year of profit . . . LanEcuador launched operations between the U.S. and mid-May. The airline began daily service between both Miami International Airport and New York-JFK and the Ecuadorian cities of Quito and Guayaquil . . . Despite less than thrilling news elsewhere, Singapore’s economy expanded by 1.6 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. But put off the celebration because it looks like heavy weather ahead.It’s about two months since Singapore was linked to SARS. The government is now predicting tourist business will fall up to 40 percent this year. One report noted that without World Health Organization (WHO) SARS clearance, Singapore could go into steady decline. Singapore’s entertainment and tourist areas were almost vacant by late March, when the first SARS cases emerged. The hotel and restaurants sector shrank by nearly 10 percent in the first quarter. “Things are going to get worse as fallout from SARS impact continues to sink in,” a source told FlyTypers. Meantime a circulated memo at the carrier has Singapore Airlines exploring a scheme to persuade employees to accept voluntary no-pay leave and consider early retirement . . . In China passenger numbers fell 81.2% in the first 10 months of the year compared with the same time last year, China Daily said. Air China, that was supposed to conduct its initial public offering on the stock market may not, while SARS forces the carrier to join China Eastern and China Southern Airlines to delay 39 new aircraft scheduled for delivery this year . . . Lufthansa says don’t blame air cargo, if numbers elsewhere in the airline business don’t add up as share of revenue earned by LH’s Global Partners increased by 54% between 1998 and 2002. What’s more as if working and playing well with others is not enough, LH Cargo said that right now cargo is generating 40% of its business with this group of customers. Eggs in one basket? LH says, not to worry, it sells 37% of premium cargo products to eight Global Partners, and that the trend is rising. Dr. Andreas Otto, member of the Lufthansa Cargo Executive Board, responsible for cargo marketing and sales is one tough bottom line driven cookie who is jubilant with the result, so much so, that last week everybody took a powder and gathered for the fifth consecutive year to participate in a Global Partner Council. With breathtakingly beautiful Salzburg, Austria as backdrop, Klaus Herms, CEO of Kuehne & Nagel took a moment, looked up from his slice of good luck and Saacher Torte and summed up the general feeling of the moment and year so far saying: “In such difficult times for the global economy and world politics as we are seeing now, it is especially important to have a good partnership with a carrier. Only by jointly exploiting all the synergy effects can the partners benefit and together grow their business, as we are doing with Lufthansa Cargo. “Lufthansa’s Global Partners are eight international air freight forwarders: Exel, Kuehne & Nagel, UTi, Hellmann, DHL Danzas Air & Ocean, Schenker, Panalpina and Geologistics. The aim of the Global Partnership Program, LH assures, is for the companies to grow together, to create synergy effects in sales, lower transaction costs and drive progress in areas of key importance for the sector. “The intensive collaboration between Lufthansa Cargo and its Global Partners naturally benefits the end-users in the industry,” said Michael Vorwerk, Vice President Global Accounts and Business Partners at Lufthansa Cargo. It also means better results for everybody. Who can’t use a bit more of that . . .