With sun blocker in hand and the kids off somewhere aquatic, now might be a good time to think ahead to trade shows, and club meetings upcoming.
     There is a full menu of course and the choices can include anything from an excellent adventure come September 18 with IATA Cargo in Warsaw where you can learn a lot and actually get to meet some people who do business in Poland, Eastern Europe and Russia not to mention Northern Europe, the Baltics, etc.
     Along the way there are regularly scheduled monthly meets of the always compelling ACD (Air Cargo Club Deutschland), Atlanta Air Cargo Association (our choice for the best air cargo club in the world), and any number of excellent airport-based cargo club organizations that work diligently if not a bit unheralded while keeping a center on air cargo life.
     And don’t forget CNS Partnership 2008.
     For our money the best event anywhere next year—golf nuts will go stratospheric at the PGA venue in Palm Beach, Florida while workaholics will make all the deals that they can carry back without setting off alarm bells & whistles at the airport.
     Here is a sampling:

September 18 - September 19, 2007
IATA Cargo in Emerging Market Series – Eastern Europe 2007, InterContinental Warsaw Hotel Warsaw, Poland.
     Aleks Popovich head of cargo at IATA is out to shake things up and make a real difference in the way air cargo meets and does business with itself.
     An excellent example is this third of a series IATA Cargo in Emerging Markets.
     If this were an episode of the TV show Star Trek, the announcer might say IATA Cargo is “going where no man has gone before.”
     Aleks is much more down to earth.
     “Eastern Europe air cargo business is booming!
     “Poland has the strongest growth worldwide in 2006 with 12,6% but has been ranked 75th by the World Bank Group in terms of ease of doing business.
     “While challenges are numerous, the payoffs are huge.
     “IATA Cargo in Emerging Markets - Eastern Europe is the global gathering that will provide solutions to overcome the air cargo industry challenges facing this fast growing market.”
Contact +1 514 390 6835 directsalesymq@iata.org for more information and to pre-register.

November 7-9 2007
Air Cargo Americas, Sheraton Hotel, 777 NW 72 Avenue, Miami, Florida 33126
     Last time in 2005 the Eighth Air Cargo Americas International Congress and Exhibition started off a complete mess getting caught up in a horrific hurricane that screwed up people and transport and closed the airport and show and almost carried poor Miami World Trade Center organizer and boss Charlotte Gallogly off into the sky forever like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
     Somehow a few months later the show was held and according to Charlotte still was/is the largest air cargo exhibition in the Western Hemisphere.
     “For 2007 (after the hurricane season) ACA offers excellent opportunities for companies to market their products and services to the leading manufacturers, exporters, freight forwarders, importers and distributors in the Western Hemisphere.”
     No doubt Miami International remains top gateway to Latin America with the most flights and giant air cargo infrastructure, including more air cargo reefers in one place than anywhere on the planet.
IX Air Cargo Americas, Charlotte Gallogly, info@worldtrade.org, (305) 871-7910.

May 12-14 2008
The International Air Cargo Association’s (TIACA) Executive Conference and AGM, Copenhagen.
      Looking ahead to 2008, Danish will be on the menu as Copenhagen Airport and SAS Cargo co-host The International Air Cargo Association’s (TIACA) Executive Conference and AGM May 12-14 2008.
      During TIACA AGM, a few things happen including committee deliberations and work done during the year that is presented to the membership.
      Thereafter budgets etc,. are ratified and strategic direction for TIACA is formulated and approved by the Board of Directors and the General Assembly.
      TIACA also holds a symposium/seminar addressing the latest happenings in the industry.
      A Hall of Fame gala dinner concludes the event.
      Jack Boisen, top executive at Continental Airlines Cargo who is also serving the current term as Chairman of TIACA, said:
      “Our selection committee was highly impressed by the commitment to cargo at Copenhagen Airport, its vision and real plans for the future.
      “The airport is ideally located to provide a Northern European hub for air cargo traffic to Scandinavia, the Baltic States and the countries to the south of the Baltic Sea.”
      The TIACA bi-annual Conference and Forum is scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur late next year.
www.tiaca.org