Human Plus Lifts Haiti Via leisure

(Left to right)—Dietmar Brockes (Member of the Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia), Ansgar Mueller (Cargo Agent Export leisure Cargo), Anestis Ioannidis (President and CEO Human Plus), Walter Grieger (Chairman Human Plus), Uwe Lascheit (Manager Operation Flughafen Dusseldorf Cargo GmbH), Karin Rohnstock (Office Management leisure Cargo), Karl-Hermann Hansen (PR Air Berlin), Francesco Rizzo (Director Social Marketing Human Plus), Michael Hanné (Manager Operations Flughafen Dusseldorf GmbH)

     Early in the morning last Friday February 5, the day was made a bit brighter as leisure cargo welcomed a delegation from Human Plus at their headquarters at DUS.
     Human Plus with offices in Nettetal near Dusseldorf is well respected for their global humanitarian effort .
     “Human Plus wanted to learn locally about the process of transporting their relief goods to Haiti so they came to see us here in DUS,” said leisure cargo Managing Director Ralf Auslaender.
     “With support of Air Berlin PR department, Karl-Hermann Hansen, and Uwe Lascheit, Manager Operation of Flughafen Dusseldorf Cargo GmbH, a visit was arranged inside the cargo hall and then outside to watch the loading of the relief goods into the AB Airbus A330 prior to flying the goods to LRM Dominican Republic.
     “From the Dominican Republic a helicopter moved the relief supplies into Haiti.”
     According to Karin Rohnstock at leisure: “Everybody felt quite pleased to help and also because the cargo move was smooth without a hitch.
     “Later leisure people and the folks from Human Plus took some coffee together in a ‘getting to know you session’ in the leisure cargo conference room.
     “It was really a unique opportunity for us to learn something about the work of an aid organization while our guests in turn were offered a chance up close, out on the ramp and in office to see first hand how the cargo business works.”
Geoffrey

One of the AI freighters leased out to India Post.

     There is a great song in the American pop culture of the 1950s that was sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford titled “16 Tons” with an opening line
          “You lift 16 tons and what do you get?
          Another day older and deeper in debt.”
     We were thinking of ole Ernie when Ms. Anita Khurana, the outstanding female head of cargo talked of plans ahead last week in Mumbai telling Air Cargo News FlyingTypers that the carrier currently can lift 1,500 tons.
     Although debt will continue in 2010 the flip is that AI expects this year the red ink will not go any deeper.

(Mumbai Exclusive)—In a move that can only be interpreted as strong rays of hope, air cargo carriers in India are gearing up to ramp up overseas operations.
     To begin with, the increased industrial capacity and the growth of the Indian economy has prompted Air India to rejig its air cargo plans despite the financial constraints it is going through and rise like a phoenix.
     Senior Air India officials gave the impression that the carrier’s financial worries would be over once the hiving off process starts.

Arvind Jadhav, AI Chairman and Managing Director, poses beside the statue of Air India's founder, J R D Tata at the headquarters in Mumbai.     

     In fact, ACNFT reported sometime ago about Air India Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Arvind Jadhav’s announcement of plans that would help the carrier strengthen its financial position.
     Among the plans is the separation of its cargo handling operations into a profit center.
     The separation, according to Mr. Jadhav will bring in much needed revenues for the carrier through lower operating costs and improved efficiency.
     “These (hiving off) moves,” said Mr. Jadhav, “will bring in additional revenues of Rs 40,000 million ($1= Rs 48 approximately) per annum”.
     The CMD went on say that though the carrier would not be in profits in 2010, it would be able to see through the year without much difficulty.
     The separate cargo handling unit, which will be under the defunct Alliance Air, has been conceived primarily to offer better services to customers. “This will be a single unit spread across the country, enabling greater efficiencies," said Jadhav.
     ACN/FT learned that the process has started a restructuring process in the carrier and the division headed by Ms. Anita Khurana, AI’s Cargo Special Business Unit head, has chalked out expansion plans.
     Talking to ACNFT last week in Mumbai Ms. Khurana declared that Air India had planned to increase the belly capacity of its aircraft.
     “What I mean by increasing belly capacity, is that with more wide-body aircraft getting inducted into the fleet, our belly capacity for cargo will also go up in due course.
     "We offer almost 1,500 tons of cargo capacity per day at present, which would grow by about 8 percent year-on-year within the next five years with the induction of wide-body aircraft,” she said.
     Ms. Khurana also said that AI would “operate existing freighter aircraft for more number of hours to boost revenue from the cargo business”.
     Cargo, both domestic and international, contributes around eight per cent to the revenues of National Aviation Company of India, (NACIL) or the merged entity of Air India and Indian (Airlines).
     The cargo chief emphasized that AI’s cargo unit would take care of both national and international markets. The new cargo unit will have a fleet of eight aircraft: six Boeing 737s and two A 310 Airbus aircraft.
     She emphasized that “there would not be any increase in the number of freighter fleet for now. We have actually leased 2 A310 freighters and at an opportune time when the market picks up, we would be looking to induct more freighters. We are working out the business plan for that,” she said.
     Incidentally Air India had, in September last year, in reply to competition from aggressive Middle Eastern carriers put an end to cargo flights to Europe and Japan. Those flights, obviously, would be restarted by the first half of this year, according to Ms. Khurana.
     “We are planning to re-start our international freighter operations in about a couple of month’s time. Last year had been a tough one for most freighter operators and we had to discontinue then. But we are hoping that the market which has picked up in the last few months would continue making it conducive for us to launch freighter services again. The Europe and Far East markets are the ones we are exploring right now,” she pointed out. Additionally, the carrier sees cargo potential on its routes to Germany and the USA.
     Focusing on cargo has been part of Air India’s revival plan. Before the global downturn, the cargo division contributed around half to the national carrier’s total revenue. Separating the cargo unit, it was forecast, would bring in four times more revenues. In fact, Air India had converted six of its older aircraft B737-200 into freighters in the hope that it would corner between 25 and 30 percent of international cargo. Mr. Jadhav had said in a press conference in August last year, “Our focus is to generate revenue through allied businesses like cargo, engineering and ground handling.”
     It seems now that the move to hive off cargo handling – when it starts operations in April this year – would be the first off the block in the revival plan which has been broadly divided into 0-9 months, 9-18 months and 18-36 months. The plan envisages operational efficiency, product improvement, organization building and financial restructuring.
     Meanwhile, Air India still continues to nurture its cargo ambitions—not without reason. It did quite well on the domestic front.
     According to Ms. Khurana: “The domestic market has been very robust in the last year. Despite the global recession, we have done very well in the domestic front. We carried more than 80,000 tons of cargo in April-December ’09, a 3.5 percent growth over corresponding period last year.”
     She was quick to add that “though the growth has been primarily due to India Post carriage (AI leased freighters to India Post, the government-run postal department), I wouldn’t contribute all the growth to it. Our loads on our line flights have also been encouraging.”
     The present financial crisis in the carrier did affect Air India’s cargo operations and Ms. Khurana said that “to some extent, it is true. We have not been able to aggressively pursue our business plans. At one point, we were exploring the option to induct more freighters, a plan we had to put on hold, due to the financial position of the company and also the global meltdown. We are hoping that with the creation of the cargo SBU with effect from April 2010, we would be in a better platform to actively pursue what we have planned.”
     "Look at the Indian market," she said. “There are numerous freighters operating to this country. It is also unfortunate to mention that the market leader as far as cargo is concerned is not with any Indian carrier, which we need to reverse in due course. When all foreign carriers can see the huge potential in India, why are none of the Indian carriers taking a cue from them and leverage this opportunity that is available to us?” she asked.
     As for the future, Ms. Khurana was optimistic. “I would like to presume that we continue to witness the double-digit month-on-month growth that we saw during the last quarter of 2009 to carry on in 2010 also.
     “But we need to exercise extreme caution and learn from recent experience.”
     However, she put in a word of caution: “It is too early to celebrate – yet!”
     Traveling back in time, she told ACNFT that, “Air India is the biggest Indian cargo operator. We were also the first to start hub operations in the country. Though we were a little late as far as foreign competition is concerned, we are still pretty much in the race. The global slowdown has pushed most of the carriers and the cargo industry back two years, so there is not much we have lost out on.”
     Ms. Khurana, said, “we will not have to catch up much from now on. Once the SBU set-up is in place, we will put forth more attention on developing ramp-handling activities and on improving our service delivery to our customers. By April 2010, our customers will be able to book, issue airway bills, track and trace their consignments on our international AI coded flights through the Internet, which will provide us a competitive edge over most of our competitors. This capability is already available on our IC coded flights.”
     While others may have planned to write off Air India cargo, Ms. Anita Khurana is up and ready to go. “Air India Cargo,” she declared, “is well poised to take on the challenges of the new decade and become a leader in the India market.”
Tirthankar Ghosh

A Chinese New Year Story

We cannot remember the last time Chinese Lunar New Year occurred on the same date as Valentine’s Day but that is certainly the case this coming Sunday February 14 as Year of the Tiger gets underway and is celebrated as is also the universal day of love, Valentine’s Day.
What a great opportunity for family and special lovers and great meals surrounded by lots of flowers.
And what a great day to be Chinese!
But if you are in New York a great Chinese meal is an around the clock 24/7/365 moveable feast.

      It is apparent to almost anyone traveling on business that there isn’t enough time to enjoy authentic local scenery.
      Dinner that hasn’t been worked into the business schedule becomes an after-thought, a quick twelve-dollar burger served on a tray with a moist towelette in some forgotten hotel room.
      We are so quick to let business travel spoil the excitement that comes with going to a new place. The town you’ve been zipping through for the past couple of days could be the grist for your memory’s mill, and sometimes culture shock can be cathartic.
      At the very least, a side step journey into town can afford a little life experience and a few polite conversations with the locals.
      I recall a Sunday alone at the downtown Mandarin Hotel in Taipei, right near Nanking Road. The Mandarin is a crew hotel. Pilots and cabin crew have a reputation of being tight with a buck.
      Most pilots like to maintain a fairly high profile life style, while cabin crew never has any money.                   Sometimes I think cabin crew invented stew. They always seem to be planning potluck dinners.
      The old joke: “Hey, this food tastes different. Did somebody wash my bowl or something?” barely affords a chuckle from these chowhounds.
      The Taipei Mandarin is always a good buy. The place is clean, if a bit faded. The restaurant, which serves Chinese and American breakfast around the clock, is always a good bet.
      The Mandarin is also equipped with a staff of husbands and wives who seem to live and tend to individual floors.
      You can be sure a staff member will see you to your door following check-in, and don’t be surprised when your arrival is heralded with hot tea and cookies.
      Once I stumbled into my room after a 19-hour flight and dived straight into the shower, only to discover my disheveled heap of clothes had been neatly pressed and hung.
      Lots of expatriate fliers and business types stay at the Mandarin.
      Anytime, day or night, Sky King is meeting under the gaze of Terry and the Pirates and Smilin’ Jack, all comic book heroes of 1930-40’s aviation.
      After arriving late one Saturday and working all of the next day on a story, I decided it was time to get out. The T.V. was rattling on in Chinese and English alternatively, about some sporting event that no longer held my interest. I decided to take a walk to find something to eat and maybe pick up some bottled water.
      It was drizzling lightly, a warm, early spring evening. Sundays anywhere are the same.
      It doesn’t really matter where you are in the world. There will be more places open on the day after the apocalypse than on any given Sunday.
      I stopped at a small restaurant that looked busy. Business in a restaurant is a good sign in any country. The first thing I noticed was how the place smelled.
      This joint smelled great.
      A couple of beers and a plate of fried rice later, I left my small side table completely satisfied.
      Around the corner from the restaurant I found a group of people laughing and joking in the staccato tics of quick and easy Chinese conversation. For a moment I thought that I had missed the place the cool crowd supped. I felt a need to get the name and address of said cool place so that I could return at a later time. I began to make my way to the group.
      It was then that a familiar sign struck me, a sign emblematic of gaudy, tacky Americana: the flashing red and white striped logo of T.G.I. Fridays. I laughed, and wondered if my joke was funnier than the joke shared by the cool crowd. I had not come halfway around the world to eat burgers and fairy food.
      Now, whenever it’s time to hit the road again, I think of that damp Sunday in Taipei. It reminds me to get out and experience more of the local scene.
      I always wonder about people who come to New York from other parts of the world insisting that the best restaurants are in Manhattan, simply because they’ve read that somewhere.
      Let’s set the record straight.
      Any stiff can read a review and fork over a lot of cash.
      The idea is to get out, get fed, have some fun and not get stuck paying through the teeth.
      Try something new, even if it’s in small amounts.
      Live a little.
      You may not pass this way again.

     The Chinese food being served up near our offices at LaGuardia Airport in Flushing, New York City is incredible, and you can basically eat until your hands get tired for just a couple of bucks.
      I would go so far as to say that several of the places in Flushing are better than the majority of restaurants in Manhattan and, I dare say, in Taipei as well.
      Since this is the season to celebrate Chinese New Year, and New York is a great city for Chinese food, here are some tips for where to go the next time you land at JFK or LaGuardia Airport. These restaurants are just a short cab or bus ride from the airport hotels.
      If you are dining alone you may feel funny about it. Get a prop. A book or magazine is fine, but if you’re really dexterous bring your Palm of iPhone to fiddle with while you wait for your meal. Look up every now and again to check the scene out. Maybe you will find yourself talking to a complete stranger, maybe it will just be time spent following the pattern in the wallpaper. Regardless, you will leave yourself open to the environment without being bored.
      Just remember, like any good scout, you must be prepared, in every sense. You may think you have everything covered, what with your magazine and your Palm or iPhone, but always be ready when the host asks you if you might consider sitting at a table with other diners to make more room. Anything can and will happen.
      Chinese restaurants in New York have lots of big, round tables. If a restaurant starts filling up with loners, couples and small families, it is not unusual to find strangers sitting together at a table. It works great when you’re alone and it’s busy because almost everyone gets seated right away. And you get an easy, insider look into the different lives inhabiting the city. Plus, if you just had a tough day in business there is nothing better than the anonymity of a table full of merciful strangers.
      Chinese restaurants always bring a pot of tea and a menu, giving the diner a relaxing couple of minutes to check things out.
      Family style dining is an easy and appropriate meal at any Chinese restaurant in New York. It always feels like going back to summer camp and sitting at a table with a variety of choice meal items. If you’re sitting at a table with a meal already in progress it’s like seeing the Lotto numbers before they are run. If you observe your new best friend and fellow diner coveting your Bok Choy, don’t be afraid to tell him how it tastes. Sharing what is good is always a great icebreaker.
      Here are a few places worth remembering:
Joe’s Shanghai. 136-21 37 Ave. Flushing NY 11354 (718) 539-4429 www.joeshanghairestaurants.com
     Located smack-dab in the middle of the ‘New Chinatown’ in Flushing, Queens, Joe’s Shanghai has been hailed as a real treasure of the area. On balance this is the best Chinese restaurant in New York. Less formal and more family oriented, Joe’s features steamed buns of pork or crab. They are served a dozen to an order inside wicker baskets. There are those who duck in simply to partake in that delicious delicacy. Joe’s also serves delicious Shanghai fried rice, a lightly turned and simply prepared dish with small bits of scallion and egg. Scallion pancakes are an excellent accompaniment to any meal at Joe’s. Joe’s is constantly rated in the top ten New York Chinese eateries and serves until 11 p.m. weekdays and midnight Fridays and Saturdays. Just around the corner from Joe’s is C&J Restaurant.
C&J Restaurant, 136-14 38th Ave., (718) 353-3366.
     C&J Restaurant is a great choice for business meetings and full-service presentations with all the trimmings. Half a block away is Homefood, at 38-05 Main Street, a narrow and deep place with cooked ducks hanging in the front window. The foods is very good, quite plentiful, and dirt-cheap. Luncheons are all you can hope for at less than five bucks.
     Another aspect to enjoying Chinese food is Dim Sum. Dim Sum is served almost everywhere, especially in the better Chinese restaurants.
     One such place, Gum Tong Gung at 133-30 39th Avenue in Flushing, does it better than anywhere else.      Dim Sum is predominantly served earlier in the day and especially during lunch, but at Gum Tong Gung you can get a variety of delicious choices anytime.
     Carts laden with round, metal Tiffin-like pans are wheeled out carrying dozens of different kinds of Dim Sum. The wait staff circles the restaurant offering the different choices, only leaving to refill their stock. If you don’t like something, you don’t have a whole dish to contend with. If you love something, you can just keep choosing it, and all the while your waiter will keep track of what you have ordered.
     Steamed dumplings with shrimp, chicken or beef; friend eggplant roll; pork congee with preserved egg; braised duck feet; turnip cake - there are a hundred choices on the menu.
     Gum Tong Gung seats up to 250 people, though from the look of it I imagine I could open a gym and house the S.S. Titanic at the same time.
     On Sundays it is worth the trip just to see the servers wheel around the room. They are a show in and of themselves.
     At $1.95 to $3.00 a serving, Dim Sum, that small taste of delicious Chinese cuisine, is a bargain.
     The Flushing area is a hot zone for Chinese food, and at this point you could close your eyes and point and still hit an excellent restaurant. But Flushing has also become a “destination” of sorts.
     Not only is the food great, but also it’s so easy to just check into a hotel and go shopping, or see a movie. The train into the city lies in the heart of Main Street, close to all restaurants and shopping, and one stop from The Mets at Shea Stadium.
     Savvy business travelers can take the Q48 bus from LaGuardia right to the center of town. A cab from JFK costs less than 20 dollars anytime.
     Flushing also offers a variety of Japanese, Indian, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Korean Food.
     The Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel at 135-20 39th Avenue has 173 rooms and is centrally located. It is the perfect full-service place to set up operations. (718) 460-666; North America, (888) 268-0717; Hong Kong, (800) 90-0376; Taiwan, 0080-10-3852.
     Wherever you find yourself landing, after a two or ten or fourteen hour flight, soaking in the shower and washing the business out of your body, remember to get out and explore your surroundings a little. There is more to this world than business; there are all the many hours in between.
New Year parade in Flushing is February 20.
Geoffrey

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