The 34th CNS Partnership Conference takes off this week May 13-15 at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa, in Miami.
     Miami native Alicia Lines was appointed as President of Cargo Network Services on January 7, 2025.; we shall share some of her thoughts here.
     “At the CNS Partnership Conference we know relationships move our industry.
     “We are creating the perfect setting for conferees to build upon our three-day encounter by bringing back some favorites with the Golf Tournament and our “Women in Cargo” reception.
     “CNS is also creating new opportunities with a new meet and greet session; and a fast-paced networking session for companies to connect directly with airlines through scheduled short meetings.
     “For non-golfers is an invitation to go sailing with colleagues in a refreshing informal way to network while enjoying the best views of Miami.
     “CNS will close with a gala dinner in true Havana chic style!
     “Join us for unforgettable days to connect and collaborate with the cargo community,” Alicia Lines declared.
     As the second Lady President of CNS (the first was Laura Pullins  named in 2022), Alicia began her career in aviation more than 23 years ago as the International Air Transport’s Association’s (IATA) Country Manager for the Western Caribbean.
     Following her transfer to the association’s regional office for the Americas in Miami, she held posts both in Human Resources and the Regional Vice President’s Office.
     She was promoted to Regional Director Financial and Distribution Services, overseeing, amongst others, the financial settlement systems for both passenger (BSP) and cargo (CASS) sales in the Americas.
     Since April 2024, Alicia also had assumed the additional responsibility for the regional cargo operations and acting interim CNS President.
     Worth recalling as CNS Partnership at 34 years is a robust middle-aged gathering for not only the airline forwarder partnership, but also for better cooperation between all parts of the industry.

     The idea for Cargo Network Services was driven initially by a forwarder named Tony Calabrese, who served longest as the CNS President, and in that role did it all, including launching the CNS Partnership Conference.
      People have called CNS Partnership a lot of things since it opened for business in 1990, but right now it can be said that the gathering has never been slow or late in providing a first-class venue for conducting business.
    Here is what Tony Calabrese told me about the CNS Partnership start up and his time living the dream of bringing the airlines and their partners closer together.
     “When I started at CNS, the airlines and the forwarders, even the airlines and airlines, barely spoke to each other,” Tony recalled.
     “What happened right from the very first Partnership Conference is that everybody discovered, through understanding, that our supposed differences were more myth than fact.”
    Tony Calabrese shepherded this North American gathering (which began in 1991) for 15 years until his retirement in 2006.
He recalls those years as quite positive for air cargo as well as for himself.
     “I never went to work one day at CNS that I was not glad to be there.
     “I was part of the original board that put CNS together and into business.”
For the record, CNS was born from IATA losing its anti-trust immunity, a consequence of the Competitive Marketing investigation and subsequent deregulation, which is the reason that the American-based organization had to keep an arm’s length relationship with IATA for many years.
     “For years we struggled for recognition and many people thought CNS was no more than the CASS settlement system,” Tony declared.
     “To change that perception, we started CNS Focus as a four-page newsletter and sent it around to our members.
     “While attending a luncheon at the Wings Club I had mentioned to an IATA official that I was with CNS and the reply was an enthusiastic: ‘Oh yes, that is my favorite news network.’
     “We had a good laugh at that one, but the comment told us we needed to do some work at defining CNS to people in the world at large.
     “CNS Focus as a publication certainly helped raise awareness, but I felt that there was still more work to do.
     “So we began The CNS Partnership Conference. But I wanted our conference to be different. To us ‘Partnership’ was never about CNS, it was more about industry stakeholders’ objectives and needs. We never looked at the event as a big money-maker either, but rather our approach was to do what was good for air cargo.
     “The purpose was to bring airlines and forwarders together. “From that simple premise we held our first conference in Tarpon Springs (near Tampa), Florida.
“We set up meeting tables of ten places each in the hall and assigned luck of the draw seating to everyone.
     “The idea right out of the gate was to keep people from congregating with co-workers or best friends. We wanted to stimulate the conversation, the floor discussion, even debate.
     “I recall 97 people showed up for that first Partnership Conference and half again as many for our second gathering a year later in Dallas.”
     Tony, who remains alive and well, characteristically, is still giving much of the credit for CNS to others.
     We are thankful that he has allowed for us to document this time in our history so easily forgotten.
     “Guenter Rohrmann was a very dynamic board member and Chairman of CNS.
     “During those years, the CNS Board—both airlines and forwarder members—really gave the organization purpose.”
     “It was the CNS members who carried the ball and helped make things work.”
“People like Cotton Daly (TWA), Buz Whalen (JAL), Pat Phelan (Aer Lingus), Ed Mortiz (British), Isaac Nijankin (Varig), Jerry Trimboli (SAS), Bill Boesch (AA), Dave Brooks (AA), Jim Friedel (NWA), and of course others, including brokers and forwarders like Joel Ditkowsky and Jo Frigger (EMO Trans).
     “From the media, Dick Malkin, carried his more than 50 years of experience in air cargo forward, and was available to shape and guide the early development of our magazine, CNS Focus.
     "Although Dick cautioned us early on about the idea of an Airline/Agent Forum, The CNS Partnership Conference, he stood up to every task and made things much better by his kind advice and constant presence as a major contributor to the CNS Partnership Conference,” Tony said.
     "Malkin surveys and analysis gave CNS new insights about the world of air cargo, which enhanced our programs.
     “I am reluctant,” Tony said, “to name names because leaving someone out can cause an unnecessary slight. Safe to say, all the people who we worked with who helped lift our CNS idea are in a special place and we still think about them.
     “Often someone we have not thought about for years will be recalled because of an incident or a project we once shared. The memories are mostly positive and I am very grateful to have shared them.
     “Our best work was bringing the industry together,” Tony Calabrese concluded.
As CNS takes off in 2025 it includes an American history of getting down to business punctuated with cooperations and friendship every step of the way.
Miami is the place to be this week in air cargo.
Geoffrey Arend