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A R C H I V E S

E D I T O R I A L

CARGO CLUBS WORTH WATCHING
by Geoffrey Arend

     It’s not just a good idea; cargo organizations and clubs are necessary for the betterment of understanding, and the future of the industry itself.
     When you think about it ‘the usual suspects’ are all around us.
     No matter which trade show you may attend , or what monthly meeting may be laid out nearby your office or hangar, organized activity in air cargo is predictable.
     From the venue, to the luncheon, to even the content of the speeches, local gatherings which usually are free, unlike their more expensive Forum and Expo cousins conducted at golf resorts, tend to take on their own self-perpetuating quality.
     But have you noticed that now everybody seems preoccupied?
     Gone everywhere is the former fat, dumb and happy, big business atmosphere.
     There are a lot of people out of work right now as companies downsize.
     Some people are downright scared.
     This year with everybody looking to save money it’s good to know where you are.
     You are there, so do something about it.
     We have been thinking about local air cargo clubs now that the full menu of trade shows is over for 2002.
     Let’s face it, this year has been for most, a real stinker.
     For any trade show organization to have the nerve to boast that their show ‘was the greatest ever,’ in 2002 flies in the face of reality.
     A popular phrase of the last decade was ‘think outside the box.’
     We were never sure what that meant except to, maybe somebody named Jack.
     But now we finally get it.
     Nothing is the same right now.
     All by ourselves, outside our enclosed world, many get little more than a brief respite in between the challenges of every day.
     Air Cargo News believes that local clubs and organizations offer the best hope for the industry to get a grip and forge ahead in the ‘new normal’ world.
     This publication talks to a lot of people.
     There are some brilliant individuals involved in this form of transportation.
     But we also have to accept that this industry in this brave, new world economy has been sent back to the drawing board.
     Some companies will change and eventually prosper, while others will fail and disappear.
     Once upon a time when it was all new, there were airports filled with eager air cargo executives building new services, inventing new procedures and business combinations, and generally making an industry come alive, all at once.
     Now, despite almost every indication that air cargo will grow and prosper as never before, expanding in the future more rapidly than passenger business, there seems to be a collective pall hanging over the industry.
     Maybe what is needed is a fresh start.
     Back to basics is the call here.
     What should happen in air cargo today is what used to happen when cargo executives in big numbers got together locally.
     There are meetings going on right now in cities all around the world that are attempting to advance air cargo.
     Elsewhere here, and from now on we will deliver information and news of these clubs and organizations in a regular, critical, and off the shoulder fashion.
     Your part whether in New York or Frankfurt or Sydney or Dubai, is to get off your duff and attend the meetings.
     If your club or organization has something planned, an agenda or some other idea, bright or otherwise, let us know about it and we will pass the news along.
     “Attend local meetings” should be a clarion call to air cargo people everywhere.
     Tomorrow, we are certain, is reserved for those of us who are involved in making things happen today.