 Here we begin a series of thoughts generated by indiviuals
that have appeared in our pages since 1975, when we
began publishing our monthly Air Cargo News trade publication
in New York City.
Richard Malkin has covered the air
cargo business since 1942, and today at 103 years of
age he has edited these comments, which will continue
through the remainder of 2016.
We hope you find this series useful
and invite your comments. Vital Views is offered during
a time of change in air cargo. It attempts to reach
back into our past and recall outlooks that might help
inform us when dealing with the challenges of today.
Our belief, to quote Abraham Lincoln,
is that “The best way to predict your future is
to create it.”
Get On The Same Page said Robert L. Jones,
Jr. in 1999 on the subject of dealing
with the customer.
The late founder chairman
and chief executive officer of Alliance Airlines
( that went into business in 1987- and is now called
Focus Logistics) put it this way:
“You want to
avoid problems with the customer, so you make sure
that you settle all issues before the contract is
signed.
“After that,
all else is easy.” |
|
 Refine
Your Business Technique said Dennis W. Patrick,
President, Lynden Air Freight in 2002. He led that company for a quarter of a century before
retiring in 2008.
In a forceful comment
on techniques for “everyday work,” Mr. Patrick
reasoned: “You can remember one minute manager
and management of objective. “You can remember
how Japan and ‘quality management’ led the
industrial world in their modern management and demand
for ‘zero tolerance’ for errors and ‘quality
management.’
“Still, there are
some principles that prevail, and I think quality as
a noun, incorporated in a culture is one of those.
“I am thinking of
continuous improvement, meeting mechanics, measurement,
and process improvement.”
 |
The
Constant Is Change said Angelo Pusateri, co-founder
and president of Virgin Atlantic Cargo USA in 1989.
Commenting on the role
of opportunity, Angelo (pictured second from left-with
Alan Chambers, Richard Branson and John Ryan, all of
whom pioneered Virgin Cargo declared:
“If there is anything
I have learned about the air cargo business, it is that
nothing ever remains the same, and as a marketing-oriented
individual, I would find it dull if it remained unchanged.
Where would opportunities
then come from?”
| Chock
Full said Claude Larren, export marketer in
1980, who
held that “there are still too many key executives
in international trade whose decision making is
based purely on price. It’s a mistake that
can result in red ink.” |
Were We Ever This Young? Seated
under a photograph of Amelia Earhart at the Wings
Club in the old Biltmore Hotel in New York City,
in 1978 the first Air Cargo News Roundtable discussed
industry issues. (Left to right) are Luis de la
Reguera, Iberia; Fernando Tavera, Viasa; Eugene
‘Buz’ Whalen, Japan Airlines; Norman
Jeppeson, British Airways; Richard Haberly, Flying
Tigers; Geoffrey Arend, Air Cargo News; Dick Logan,
Air Cargo News; William “Bill” Clarke,
TWA; and Peter Diefenbach, Pan Am. |
Off The
Books said Wiliam D. “Bill” Clarke,
former director of cargo planning at Trans World Airlines,
(TWA) in 1988 calling attention to the following:
“When deregulation
occurred in 1978, the pricing environment began to change.
“At first, the changes
were not pronounced as forwarders and carriers felt
their way through the new-found freedom from regulation,
in the past few years, however, the pace has picked
up considerably so that the formalized tariff rates
are used by fewer and fewer customers.
“For some carriers
off-the-books traffic accounts for as much as 75 percent
of the total volumes transported,”the erstwhile
Bill Clarke said.
 Road
Dog Marks Political Matters … Guenter Rohrmann
who had served as CEO and president of Air Express International
and in 2004 was DHL’s COO,
in a rare confidential moment, admitted that when he
first entered the air cargo industry he never dreamed
that his concerns would include such matters as the
political situation in Brazil.
On a wholly different
note, in reaction to a comment on his arduous business
schedule (70 percent of his time spent on the road)
replied: “I love it and I live it.”
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