October 2018—I am sitting in the United Airlines Corporate Support Center – specifically the headquarters of United Cargo’s worldwide business located on the 17th floor of the Willis Tower in Chicago.
Later, as we travel upstairs to the 103rd floor of this great building, I am thinking that towers like the Willis, the Empire State Building in New York City and the Eiffel Tower in Paris cannot help adding a spirit of triumph to the soul.
When you are 103 floors up in the Willis Tower your vision is in heaven, and at the same time the space offers a calming perspective of the world below.
Skyscrapers and towers are a celebration of what mankind’s ambitions have achieved and a joyous declaration that we exist and have survived.
So I wonder, now that he has spent the past four years at Willis, what impact has altitude had on the attitude of United Cargo President Jan Krems and his team?

FlyingTypers:  You have been in place atop United Cargo for some time now. What surprised you?
Jan Krems:  “I’ve often talked about what I found when I came to United and what we did as an organization to turn things around. But after four-plus years, the key to our ongoing success story is the team we’ve all built together.
“I think we have the perfect blend of people at the beginning of their careers, with high-level expertise in data and technology, and more senior staff who’ve seen everything this business can throw at them and lived to tell the tale. It’s the balance between enthusiasm and experience, visionaries and veterans, that keeps things interesting and fresh.
“There’s another factor we’ve consciously focused on, because it’s often overlooked: keeping the spirit of fun and adventure alive throughout the enterprise. We take keeping our promises to our customers seriously, but we don’t take ourselves so seriously.

FT:  What are some of the keys to success at United?
JK:  “A linchpin of our sustained strength is our team’s emphasis on cultivating long-term partnerships with customers. Our aim has been to build relationships of mutual benefit built on trust. We look for partners who share our eagerness to listen and our passion for contributing to the other partner’s success.
     “Of course, customers won’t remain your partners unless the quality of your people is matched by the quality of your service. That’s why our relentless focus is on delivering quality service at all our locations worldwide. We know that consistent quality is the key to preserving and expanding customer relationships.

FT:  In terms of business what is your top agenda item right now?
JK:  Our top agenda item is ensuring we sustain reliable quality throughout the upcoming peak season. All though 2018, we’ve taken the lessons learned from last year’s peak and translated them into people, process and facility adjustments in key locations around the system – for example, at our crucial U.S. hubs in San Francisco and New York/Newark. As volumes ramp up, our mission is to refine the process enhancements to ensure we meet the peak shipment levels with peak efficiency.

FT:  What does the rest of 2018 look like?
JK:  “As the carrier with the largest China-U.S. network, we’re obviously concerned about the effect of escalating trade tensions on the robust peak season we’re expecting. Based on our conversations with customers, our forecasts and our booking levels, we expect trade issues, to whatever degree they impact air cargo, to be more of a factor in 2019.
     “There’s a lot of upward momentum heading into the fourth quarter. There are headwinds to be concerned about – for example, air capacity has outgrown demand for the past six months.      And yet, while these obstacles have surfaced all during the recent growth period, our overall industry continues to expand.
FT:  Right now, what types of commodities can use United Cargo to best advantage all around?
JK:  “A highlight of our business in 2018 is the continuing global growth of our TempControl service for pharmaceuticals, healthcare material and other commodities requiring temperature-sensitive shipping. This contributes to our bottom line, of course, but what’s most gratifying is that a greater number of customers are trusting us with more and more of their healthcare business, allowing us to contribute to the health of more patients worldwide.
     “We use the terms “relevance” and “integrity” as watchwords for differentiating TempControl from other carriers’ cool chain products. The essence of integrity, of course, is keeping the commitments for quality and timeliness we make to our customers.
     One way we enhance TempControl’s relevance is to expand our customers’ options for packaging and transport systems – and 2018 has been our best year for this effort.
     “In July, we signed a global lease agreement with Sonoco ThermoSafe that enables TempControl customers to lease PharmaPort 360 containers directly from us. In September, we enhanced both our TempControl and LifeGuard services by accepting the evo® Cold Chain 2.0 system developed by Savsu.
     “Then just last week, we became the first U.S. carrier to approve the new CSafe RAP active container, which enables us to meet the demand for more pharma capacity on our network using the same CSafe technology our customers have trusted since 2010.

FT:  Would you describe some things all of us in air cargo can do better?
JK:  “While the reliability and efficiency of air cargo is improving, the arrival of another peak season will test the limits of the infrastructure around some airports. These limits, and the timeliness and consistency of all the processes leading up to and following the freight’s air transport, continue to challenge air cargo’s value proposition.
     “What’s needed to maintain standards and lessen the impact of congestion is better planning and more consistent and effective responses to the inevitable irregular operations. More investment in the facilities and logistics needed to support specialty cargo would also be a major benefit.
     “This is another of our challenges that is best confronted by unified industry action. We need to speak with one voice to persuade governments and airport regulators that air cargo makes crucial contributions to the success of their economies, and that investments and policies that benefit air cargo make good business sense.
Geoffrey