#INTHEAIREVERYWHERE

     (On September 11, 2011) I was playing golf! We were hosting some Japanese customers in London and we were being soundly beaten. We took a break after 9 for drinks and that’s when the barman said “a plane has flown into the World Trade Center.”
     All of us thought that maybe there had been an accident involving a light aircraft. Then we turned on the television. We all just stood watching, totally stunned and unable to comprehend what was unfolding in front of our eyes.
     Watching the horrific scenes, my immediate thoughts were obviously for all the people involved, and trying to guess what was going on. Who would do this and why?
     I have to be honest – I definitely underestimated the number of people in the towers. I’m not sure why as I’d been there many times, but only then did it hit me, in terms of the scale, what we were watching. The inevitable happened as the hours passed. The phone started to ring and the practical reality of trying to manage an airline operation through this kicked in. Is our staff all ok? Where are our aircraft? Are there more attacks to come?      What are we being told by the authorities? It was incredibly hard to focus on business when you knew thousands of people had lost their lives.
     The world changed that day. Its impact was felt globally and, of course, the cargo industry has never been the same since.
     Why do people use air cargo? Speed to market. Anything that impacts this, however justifiable the reason, means air cargo loses some of its competitive advantage. Safety and security have always been a top priority for the aviation industry, but since 9/11 the restrictions have had much more impact and are very noticeable to the customer.
     Today, we all understand that the most effective screening of passengers and cargo is now more important than ever. What is frustrating is that there is so much experience and expertise in the industry that is not being properly used to help develop solutions. Also, in the aftermath of 9/11, airlines had to dramatically control costs and the industry lost a lot of really good people through cutbacks, which was incredibly sad.
     To be blunt, (air cargo security today) is a confusing mess. Managing and communicating all the different regulations is hugely challenging. We need to agree to a clear and consistent set of standards and processes across all regimes.
     Let’s face it: the situation is only going to get more challenging in the future. We also need governments to recognize the economic value of air cargo and assist in investment in technology to speed up the screening processes.