Change, as the result of the less than spectacular past couple of business years, is certainly in the wind.
     It may be driven by world economies, or it could be the freighters, or maybe even a paradigm shift of priorities, but AFKLMP cleared the air on many subjects Thursday April 18 in Amsterdam.
     “The Group” summoned the global air cargo press corps for a meet up as Passover and Easter Eve advanced, to deliver a clear and simple message.
     A gauntlet has been thrown down declaring that AFKLMP, partner airline companies flying under separate banners, are in the game together for a solid air cargo future.
     When you think about making a statement of objectives and principles in air cargo, what emerged at this event can also be viewed as a master class for air cargo marketing.
      Not since Jacques Ancher (who interestingly enters the TIACA Hall of Fame exactly one Thursday later on April 25 in Istanbul, Turkey honoring his industry ground breaking leadership at KLM Cargo twenty years ago, pictured (right) at one of his press events) held sway, has a press gathering at AMS been quite this clear and to the point.
     What instantly stands out here as takeaway is that whether carried aboard a larger or smaller passenger aircraft or freighters, or via even closer cooperation with partners (including Delta), AFKLMP Cargo armed with specific objectives and goals is driven to not only keep pace with current market trends, but will also lead the way moving ahead.
     “We specifically will return to profitability by 2016,” said Erik Varwijk, (left) Executive Vice President, Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo.
     “We will achieve positive results as world economies rebound by leveraging our three airline strong culture for air cargo. Our principal focus will be on investing in our offerings and prioritizing getting very close to our customers in every aspect of our business.
     “We are about maximizing cargo contribution to the group by being the customer’s preferred airline and the leading European provider of air cargo services,” he declared.
     “AFKLMP intends to be among the top three airline cargo resources on the planet,” Varwijk added.

What’s Hot

     At this point there is good indication that some of the group’s new programs are working.
     “As example, our new tool to expedite business called “Click & Book” is an instant success.
     “Our customers love it!” Eelco van Asch, Senior Vice President Sales & Distribution declared.
     “Over 100,000 C&B quotes have been offered as the numbers keep growing daily,” van Asch added.

Taking The Temp of Pharma

     “Healthcare is trending upward as a major area of growth in our service offering, with business building above 5% per year,” said Ramon Delima, Vice President, Variation and Industries.
     “AFKLMP Pharma ambition: grow business 10% every year (Q1: 20% growth), said name (pharma)
“We have been keen on setting the standards for Pharma airfreight solutions:
Pharma Active; Pharma Control 2-8° C; Pharma Control 15-25° C; Pharma 2-25 ° C.”
     Has that paid Off?
     “Currently we hold a 50% market share from North America to Europe (WorldACD).
     “Part of the reason for our position in movement of Pharma emanates from our people of course and also from dedicated operations, sales and product management in our centralized one business unit for Pharma with separate cool storage and specialized active container handling in Schiphol and Paris,” Delima said.
     “What’s more, we are currently investing EUR 25 to insure our continued leadership in this sector by strengthening the cool chain, with new Pharma Control 15-25 °C temperature-controlled facilities in Schiphol and Paris.
     “We are also investing in better cool facilities worldwide, as example in Cairo, Egypt.
     Partnerships are also being developed all up and down the cool chain.
     “Recently we began real-time monitoring of temperature sensitive shipments in partnership with K&N RFID.

Mailing It In

     “As we know, from our online figures—a 5% uptick in international shipments—increasingly are driven by e-commerce, so we are exploring every aspect of growth and opportunity and product enhancements.
     Currently AFKLMP Cargo says its annual growth is pegged at 7%.
     “But 12% of turnover is Express and Mail,” reports Stephane Bocquet, Vice President Express and Postal Services.
     “Our plan is to focus on increasing E&M growth to 25% by 2020.
     “Our aim towards postal organizations worldwide is to position AFKLMP to handle e-commerce for both the B2C and B2B segments.
     The group is targeting business with integrators, couriers, as well as forwarders with a strong e-commerce focus.
     But there are also new players entering the domain (e.g. Distance sellers, comparison sites).
     “Again, with resources— our people and a long-held committment to this sector of our business we can offer a high level of reliability with worldwide coverage, daily regular services and growing belly capacity on our combined passenger fleets," Bocquet explains.

Dedicated Business Unit

     “AFKLMP today includes highly specialized warehouses in hubs CDG and SPL as core to our service offering.
     “We have long held an active front running role in Postal Corporation ‘IPC’
     “In terms of postal product enhancements, our new legacy systems for Cargo / Express (Cargobus) and Mail (Stamp) with enhanced end to end tracing are operating at new facilities at SPL as well as our other state of the art facility at CDG.
     “Our industry leading “Closer Hub” in collaboration with Sodexi and Geopost further reduce transit handling times for Postal and Express flows,” Bocquet added.

Out of Freighters?

     A good way to get straight answer to this “hot potato” question is to go directly to a market expert who markets all-cargo lift and that would be Christophe Boucher, Vice President, Asia & Middle East, AFKLMP Cargo.
     “Is there a decision,” Boucher says rhetorically
     “No.
     “I think if you look at the profitability of the full freighter, then yes, they are not profitable.
     “And I think that in a company that is properly run, yes, you have to ask yourself some questions.
     “For the time being, our target here in India is to optimize our capacity.
     “That’s definitely our target and we hope to be able to keep freighters in India.
     “I doubt if the mother company will accept the kind of losses that we had last year,” Christophe Boucher said.
Geoffrey/Sabiha, additional reporting Tirthankar Ghosh

     No doubt that continuing world events bring air cargo security to the fore.
     In a recent move, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which provides security to nine major cargo terminals in the country, has now made a specific request to be allowed to take a look at consignments landing at the airports.
     For the moment, these consignments are X-rayed by private security personnel of cargo companies before being allowed to go out of the airports.
     According to CISF’s Additional Director General (Airport), O. P. Singh (left) at Delhi, the major reason the CISF was given the responsibility of the cargo terminals was primarily because “there was a perceived terror threat” received from intelligence sources. In addition, the screening was necessary to prevent forwarders from under reporting weights. “We should be allowed to screen the shipments to be fully assured of the contents inside,” said Singh.
     In the cargo terminals, the CISF use sniffer dogs to check the consignments that land at the airport; it is nothing in comparison to the security regimen followed in the passenger section, where the CISF personnel frisk every flier and X-ray each piece of luggage before allowing entry into aircraft.
     The absence of proper security arrangements at cargo terminals could put an end to exports from the south Indian city of Chennai starting July 1, 2014, when the new security rules prescribed by the European Union kick in.
     Chennai airport is managed and operated by the state-run Airports Authority of India and has undergone massive expansion and modernization recently, but it has yet to comply with the EU new air cargo security standards. Termed the ACC3 or “air cargo or mail carrier operating into the Union from a third country airport,” it is obligatory for Chennai airport to get cargo or mail security-checked by an EU certified regulator. At least 30 percent of the export cargo handled by Chennai goes to the EU and the U.S. through airports in the EU.
     J. Krishnan, Chairman, (right) Logistics Committee, Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a leading freight forwarder, pointed out that while privately run airports in south India—Bengaluru and Hyderabad—as well as other international airports had complied with the EU directives and installed the new security regime, Chennai had lagged behind. He gave the example of X-ray machines. The ones at Chennai could not scan the top and bottom of cargo consignments. Though AAI authorities have assured the air cargo stakeholders that the airport would be able to comply with the EU directives starting in July, Krishnan is not very sure that will happen and even if new machines were ordered, they would take at least 3-4 months to be delivered and installed. To top it all, there weren’t enough certifying agents from the EU.
     If the inevitable happens in Chennai, most of the cargo will have to be sent out through Bengaluru or Hyderabad or via any of the airports in the Middle East. "

     The major reason for the delay in the upgrading of the cargo facilities at Chennai is because the airport is in the midst of a privatization move and all capital expenditure has been put on hold. For the next few months—at least until May 2014—nothing will be done, as the country will be going through a general election that has already been announced. In the interim period, the government can make no major infrastructure decisions because the model code of conduct of the Election Commission of India is in force, and any expense could be construed as political party gratification to garner votes.
     Among those Indian carriers that could be affected will be Air India and Jet Airways, since both have flights to Europe. The other airlines with flights from Chennai to Europe are Lufthansa and KLM (Martinair).
     FlyingTypers spoke to Radharamanan Panicker, Group Chief Executive of Cargo Service Centre, which operates the cargo terminals in Delhi and Mumbai. He said that he did not see “any problem in India to meet the July 1 deadline.” In fact, the Cargo Service Centres had been doing 100 percent screening of cargo, according to the directives from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Safety (BCAS).
At Mumbai International Airport, too, there would not be any problems. The airport’s approved agent has asked for permission from BCAS to undertake validation. Carriers like British Airways and others have sent out requests to BCAS to undertake independent validations, which would be completed by April.
Tirthankar Ghosh

Here, the opulent first class interior section of a United Airlines 747 plane at San Francisco International Airport in 2011, and on the right, the coach interior section of a JetBlue E190 plane at Seatac International Airport in Seattle in 2008.
Henry Harteveldt, an airline analyst with Hudson Crossing says, “First class has become a way for a traveler to have an almost private jet-like experience.”

Move over, Downton Abbey—this is what first-class travel looks like these days.
Many need not be reminded, as they travel the world this April for different air cargo events, that they may experience a variety of flight experiences.

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