By Bill Boesch

(The former President of American Airlines Cargo recalls a fateful day nearly 19 years ago that changed the way he thought about the connections between his private world and the world at large, just as 9/11 did for so many a little over a decade later. He also thinks that the time is past for everyone to recognize the loss and sacrifice of others by moving forward to a global, industry-driven initiative for air cargo security).

 “On Dec. 21, 1988, I was at a meeting in the cargo conference room in the old American Airlines headquarters at DFW, when we were interrupted by a message saying that a Pan American 747 had crashed over the UK. Since I had only recently left Pan Am and knew many of the people who worked there, I left the meeting to try to find out what had happened and if I could be helpful in any way. Soon, the terrible events of that day had become all too clear. A bomb had exploded in the belly compartment of PAA Flight 103 shortly after it took off from Heathrow Airport, killing 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground in the village of Lockerbie, Scotland. At that moment, I realized that the air cargo universe had shifted. It shifted because the explosive device had not been carried on the aircraft by a passenger but had actually been loaded in the belly as baggage.
     After Lockerbie, governments around the world started to look more closely at air cargo and baggage security. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) also conducted endless meetings and debates on the subject, in many of which I took part.
Over the years, as other events have unfolded—the first Iraq War, the crash of TWA Flight 800, the horror of September 11, 2001, the “War on Terrorism,” as the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in response to 9/11, the Madrid subway bombings, and the UK terrorist plots, the debate about what to do to increase the security of air cargo has continued. Because the air cargo industry is so highly complex, with such an enormous volume and diversity of “boxes” and people who touch them, the question of security is equally complex.
     The U.S. Government has worked hard to try to balance all the obvious issues like the need to minimize the impact of cargo restrictions on the balance of trade; the differing security problems posed by freight traveling in passenger-aircraft bellies vs. freight traveling in all-cargo aircraft; the effect of security costs on passenger ticket prices and freight charges; the impact of regulations on the competitiveness of U.S. carriers vs. foreign carriers; and the impact of restrictions on the airlines’ precarious bottom lines. And it has succeeded in implementing some necessary regulations. But the number of people who are experts in air cargo is so few relative to the fairly large number of people who are well versed in the ins and outs of the passenger industry that getting all the right people together for the amount of time necessary to come up with a comprehensive, acceptable security strategy is very difficult. As American Airlines former CEO and aviation visionary Robert Crandall once said at an IATA meeting, "Everyone knows the passenger business because we are all passengers, but very few of us know the air cargo business because we are not boxes."
     The most recent travel scenario, in which hapless travelers were forced to dump thousands of dollars’ worth of perfumes, lipsticks, toothpaste, and aftershave, has only heightened the impression that the security infrastructure and the airlines have a long way to go to work together effectively. In the meantime, a blizzard of rules and regulations, created as a result of what seems at times only whims, are helping to drive the profit out of the airline business. From my perspective, I believe that security would be better served if trade and regulatory groups such as ATA, TIACA, and IATA were given the responsibility for designing a realistic cargo security program, and a timeline for its execution.
     Today, 18 years after Lockerbie, IATA still does not have global regulations in place to ensure cargo security. Governments, and most noticeably the TSA in the United States, are still trying to get a handle on the situation by hiring a few industry people, who then attempt, with little success, to get industry-wide acceptance for improved air cargo security initiatives. We need to put together “the best of the best” from the air cargo industry (the passenger carriers, the all-cargo carriers, the integrators, the freight forwarders, the customs brokers, the shippers together with top government security experts) and get them all to take full ownership of and responsibility for the situation, and we need to impress upon them that they cannot walk away from the task until a fail-safe solution is found and accepted by the governments with a plan to put it into effect.
     In short, my view is that the air cargo establishment itself must develop and put into practice industry-wide IATA security regulations, to be enforced in cooperation with the world’s governments. By taking this action air cargo leaders will take the security issue out of the hands of political and other special interests and the responsibility for solving the problem will be shifted to those who have the best chance to succeed. Technology has already given us ways to monitor and track cargo that were unimaginable even a few years ago. The quality of information we can provide customers has improved dramatically, and getting that information to them has been given a very high priority. Security from terrorist attacks should have an equally high priority.
     There is also a compelling amount of information available from past work that offers a foundation for the future. The move toward better airline and air cargo security in America actually began in the “pre-terrorist era.” In 1997, those of us who were part of the Gore Commission on Aviation Security (chaired by former United States Vice President Albert Gore) worked to build a consensus for changes that would greatly enhance airline security. Although many scenarios were discussed, very few of the Gore Commission recommendations were adopted. Similar complaints are being voiced today about the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
But the report that the Gore Committee produced still exists and has relevance. It could easily be dusted off and reevaluated as part of the effort toward a new beginning.
     The one thing in my career I regret is that I have been unable to influence the industry to take on the issue of cargo security with the same urgency that it took on the problem of restricted articles. Even in the aftermath of 9/11, the industry has not agreed on practical, enforceable self-regulations and methods of operation to prevent a terrorist attack involving air cargo. The future is truly in our hands.      
     The time for action is now.

Streetwise Cargo

     Bill Boesch spent the last quarter of the 20th Century at the heart of air cargo.
     As President of American Airlines Cargo and Pan Am Clipper Cargo before that, Bill a native New Yorker, was one of John Mahoney’s boys who emerged from legendary Seaboard World Airways of the late 1960’s.
     One thing for sure, when Bill Boesch was around, ideas and imagination flowed.
     Once at TIACA-Seattle in 1992, Boesch got up on a stage and levitated a room full of hard-bitten cargo people, dropping all pretense of open discussion, to push his newest idea for American.
     It was 45 minutes of masterful Bill Boesch and although memory fades as to just what the hell he was pitching, his window on that group was a highlight of the conference.
     Later when we beefed that his bit was not about industry, but only about American, he said:
     “Are you kidding?
     “We operate thousands of daily flights, and hundreds of airplanes all over the world.
     “When American makes a move it is a benchmark for everybody else, period.”
     But we caught that kid-like grin Boesch gave up for an instant as he spoke, and pressed him some more.
     “C’mon,” we chided.
     “That was a three quarter hour ad for American.”
     The response was classic:
     “Well you know they do pay my way. I have a responsibility to see to it that the greatest airline in the world delivers, and that’s what I’ll do every time!”
     Now it’s 2006.
     Bill is in Washington D.C. or at home in his beach house along the New Jersey shore or deep in the heart of Texas at times.
     Children are getting older.
He is on the board of some companies and makes no bones about a still active life of air cargo behind the scenes, more with security issues in Washington, a project to develop the C-17 cargolifter into commercial application and his lifelong love of containers
     “Air cargo needs leadership.
     ‘There do not seem to be enough people willing to move on behalf of the industry.

Bill pictured at a TIACA gathering with friend and ex-Seaboard alumnus, Vince Chabrol of World Trade Business.

     “Right now with all these security edicts emerging left and right, somebody or group within air cargo better speak up, aside from just complaining, or the entire industry will reap the whirlwind.
     “I have been invited to trade shows this year but you know after I get back I’m depressed for a month.
     “All talk and no action.
     “That’s not the way to better air cargo. “Everybody has to give a little.
     “Not for the power or influence, but for the good of the business.”
     Bill Boesch always has had something to say, worth the listen.
     Even when every other breath was pitching American, he would not be timid about leading or joining debate on any topic to better the business.
     Now, ‘retired’ Bill Boesch admits that it’s the air cargo business that keeps him occupied, albeit in a less public, behind the scenes way.
     The summer of 2006 has ended and in New York City Yankee Stadium soon will be empty. “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?” is a plaintive refrain that means almost nothing to the generation of today.
     Bill Boesch has left centerfield in air cargo, but he still has fire for the business.
     It’s good to think, this genuine original born in Air Cargo USA hasn’t left and gone away.
      Contact: cargoman@attglobal.net.
(Geoffrey)