Matthieu Casey, Managing Director Commercial Cargo joined Air Canada a dozen plus years ago, but he has been in aviation for more than 30 years, 15 of which were in Cargo.
     “I started in Cargo as a product specialist for business intelligence services at IATA in the early 2000s.
     “The love affair with air cargo was instant.
     Someone once told me that it must be easier dealing with air cargo than passengers because it doesn’t talk back, which is of course completely false, because everything we do in air cargo has a story behind it and many, many voices!
     “From life-saving medication, vaccines or organs, to factory and supply chain integrity or fresh produce, air cargo is immensely important to us all and the passion we see throughout our industry is testament to that,” Matthieu Casey smiles.
     There is a “Mohair Sam” actuality about Matthieu that makes this easy going individual, pictured here with his favorite four-legged friend “Sookie,” (who takes Matt out for a walk occasionally), not only likeable, but also mostly unflappable.
     As IATA WCS DXB takes off with Matt as part of a major panel discussion Tuesday April 15, titled “Air Cargo Market Factors” at 11:45 am, the Managing Director shares in a few minutes an interesting down on the ground view of Air Canada Cargo 2025.
       “We expect 2025 will be about accelerating the growth pattern we’ve focused on over the past few years. Despite some market dynamics continuing to be volatile, many aspects of the market have stabilized, and we are capitalizing on areas of stable flows to provide steady and dependable service to our customers. Our ongoing roll-out of digitalization initiatives continues to be an exciting area of opportunity that our customers and internal teams get excited about, as it’s a clear path to continue to improve all aspects of our business, from operational efficiencies to faster commercial responses.”

Delivers Lift To Air Canada Cargo

     “Our people will always play a central role as one of our key advantages.
The ability to understand the market dynamics and market drivers to ensure we are in lockstep with our customers' needs starts with an attentive and responsive team on the ground. This spans all aspects of our interactions with our customers, from C-level discussions to the day-to-day exchanges taking place in our warehouses or at our customers' branches around the world.”

On Partnerships & Emirates

     “I love the African proverb, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’ This proverb speaks nicely to the strength and results we’ve seen in our relationship with Emirates. We have continued to build on a mutually beneficial working relationship that considers the importance of providing the forwarding community with stable and dependable capacity on a strong combined network. Customers have been incredibly complimentary about the service they receive and have voiced their trust in our service, whether the journey starts with Emirates and ends with Air Canada or the other way around.”

What About Handling Crises?

     “The pandemic was the loudest and most obvious reminder of how important it is to have the ability to pivot and adapt in times of crisis. I believe the entire industry has developed new capabilities in this respect and I have always been a huge fan of having a playbook ready for any situation. One of my coaching moments with some of my team members was to be ready for the unexpected and without a playbook, this is simply more difficult to accomplish.”

Cargo Work & Play Well With Others?

     “Air cargo helps others in many ways, and we all see the effects of this when key supply chains break down. At a high level, air cargo helps fuel the economy and bring the world closer together. When you look deeper, this industry provides life-saving medicine and medical isotopes around the globe, facilitates access to agricultural and agri-food, and enables the safe transport of live bees, critical for crop pollination to ensure the production of vital food crops. The list goes on of course, but suffice it to say, air cargo helps others on many different levels.”

Looking Ahead At Rest of 2025

     “We have seen steady and sure-footed growth since Q2 2024, and our 2025 outlook is based on a solid network and growth plan in all regions. We are getting more capacity in Asia-Pacific and continue to leverage our strong transatlantic routes and amazing Americas network, which, of course, includes our ever-growing freighter network into steady and reliable markets. As much as the evident volatility surrounding global trade negotiations cannot be overlooked, air cargo and, indeed, Air Canada Cargo, have shown tremendous resilience and a great capacity to adapt to major events. Our current environment is certainly going to keep us on our toes. Despite some of these uncertainties, I strongly believe in keeping calm while staying alert and nimble and of course staying incredibly close to our customers, as we always have.”

Thinking Cargo As A Global Power

     “Although we hear this less and less, people were very often thinking too much about the Canada in Air Canada.
We are, of course, a proud Canadian air cargo carrier, but we are a formidable force in global airfreight, and our strong worldwide footprint has proven how strongly and effectively we connect the South Pacific to Europe or Asia to Latin America, as only two examples. We can often do this better than many other global players. I am always pleased to hear how impressed people are with our diverse and robust network, but I cannot help but wonder if they were thinking too much about the Canada in Air Canada.”
     We wonder, imagine that you are talking to yourself a decade ago face to face as the person that you are today. What would you say?
     “Get ready for a fun and exciting decade!”
     We asked Matt, who he admires, in the business or in his life.
      “I admire and am thankful to every boss I’ve ever had.
     “I have been blessed to have had great mentors throughout my career. Still, I will always admire my wife, who came to Canada from France to study her chosen discipline (civil engineering) in a foreign language (English) and ended up owning and successfully running an engineering firm in such a male-dominated industry.”

The Airline/Forwarder Partnership

     “I believe the airline forwarder partnership will always exist. The complementarity of how this combined force can service the shippers works incredibly well for each respective business. It allows them to take advantage of each other's strengths and leverage other partners in a way that a single business or single partnership cannot. We are incredibly tied in with our forwarding partners and nurture this partnership in such a way as to ensure their growth, which ultimately fuels our own,” Mattieu Casey concluded.
Geoffrey