Dirk Steiger was a fighter. He died far too young—at the age of 53—on March 22, 2016, in Frankfurt, Germany.
     Whether it was battling against the night flight ban at Frankfurt a few years ago, or refusing to back down from the debilitating illness that eventually took his life, Dirk never minded the odds and was an intense, smart, and original thinker in air cargo.
     Dirk’s friend and colleague, the great air freight forwarder and logistics pioneer Guenter Rohrmann (AEI/Danzas/DHL) told FlyingTypers:
     “It’s a very sad situation, indeed.
     “I had kept in touch with Dirk and we visited for a beer whenever I had a stopover in Frankfurt.
     “For me he was ‘Mr. Statistics.’
     “Whenever we needed figures for an air freight project, we went to Dirk.
     “During the last few years he did not have an easy life, but he managed.
     “Being with him was always fun and many times he went with me when I went shopping in Frankfurt for products that I could not get here.
     “Dirk, rest in peace,” Guenter Rohrmann said.
     Dirk Steiger was a deeply serious numbers guy and strategic thinker. He had a face that always reminded me of fictionalized Germans you loved to hate in war movies, like a character from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
     I would occasionally tease him a bit during our interviews over the years and he would always smile generously.
     I loved that he did not take himself too seriously and took time to smell the roses.
     He loved cars, and when the business was over we talked about his thrill of operating a high-powered machine at top speeds, zooming along the Autobahn.
     “What I admired most about Dirk is that despite is illness he never gave up,” said Heide Enfield, his friend and colleague at Lufthansa Charter, who today works in hub operations improvement at Lufthansa Cargo.
     “He was in pain a lot of the time and still enjoyed life whenever possible.
     “And he didn’t quit working either, because he loved what he was doing.
     “His death is not only sad but also a great loss for the air cargo community.
     “I hope he will feel well and happy where he is now,” Heide said.
     His friend Jens Tuebbesing, Chief Executive Officer Airline Network Services (GSA), told FlyingTypers:
    “Dirk was an avid car fan and lover. Among the cars he drove was an Aston Martin Vantage DB8 and a Jaguar XK8.”
    “He was a great guy who enjoyed life and was wonderful to be around.
    “Dirk will be missed.”
     An aviation consultant, Dirk launched his company Aviainform GmbH in 2002, headquartered at Frankfurt Cargo City Süd.
     Great cargo gateways have always found room for the offices for ex-airline and cargo industry people like Dirk Steiger.
     People like Dirk at FRA, Ernesto Schimmer at LAX, and Guenter Rohrmann at JFK add depth, experience, and expertise to the community, often offering the industry a reliable, on-hand business consul when answers are sought. At times, they are even a good shoulder to cry on.
     Aside from the fact that he knew just about everything and loved air cargo, we also liked that Dirk explained things in terms that everybody could understand.
     When asked to explain why a cargo carrier went out of business, he simply said:
     “They operated aging Boeing B747-200 freighters that burned a lot of kero and required high maintenance.
     “At the same time, they positioned themselves in the market as a budget carrier offering everybody low air freight rates.
     “High fleet expenditures and a small influx of funds obviously does not work any longer,” Dirk concluded.
     Happy Landings, Dirk.
Geoffrey