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 FlyingTypers
spoke with Achim Martinka, Vice President Lufthansa Cargo The Americas
regarding current developments in the Americas, which he oversees from
the Atlanta head office.
“We are satisfied with the start
into this year, which was clearly better than in 2013. But it is still
too early to say that the entire year will be good; some customers are
still skeptical. We'll see; for the time being we are moderately optimistic.
“We have planned for a stable
network and flight-schedule, no big changes but smaller adjustments, such
as a new flight from EWR to VIE. Our latest freighter stations GDL and
LIM are doing well, so everything is on track.
“The new B777F has had very
good feedback from the market and from the teams operating it. We're happy
to have it in our mix of aircraft.”
 Regarding
team updates, Achim went on to say, “We have a new regional manager
for the West coast and middle-America (Mexico), Uwe Glunz (right). He
was our country manager for Korea before and held many other positions
in FRA, LOS, and DFW before that. Veli Polat, his predecessor, has taken
over India and the surrounding countries. I'm very confident that Uwe
and his team will continue the good work that Veli initiated.
“Customer activities included
recognition of Lufthansa Cargo by Expeditors with the 'Supplier of the
Year' award on a global level; this is a big honor for us and represents
a great appreciation for our teams. I was with Alison Ricker, Head of
Global Account Management and Dr. Andreas Otto, Lufthansa Cargo Executive
Board Member Product & Sales, to receive the award from Peter Rose
and his successor, Jeff Musser in SEA.
“Coming up, we will be participating
in Intermodal in SAO, which has developed nicely and where we have a joint
booth with our Swiss colleagues, and of course at the CNS conference in
San Antonio, early May.”
As far as process evolution and enhancements
go, Achim said, “efforts for the year continue with introducing
the e-AWB in different stations and getting more and more customers on
board. It's good to see that many important market-players are joining
us.
"Internally, we are looking forward
to introducing our new IT-system this year, iCap from IBS. It will lead
us from the ‘stone age Mosaik system’ to the new millennium
(finally) and is a key factor for us to stay successful and competitive
in the coming years. It will be a huge effort, sometimes challenging,
but certainly also rewarding in the end.”
Ted Braun
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