FlyingTalkers By Geoffrey Arend – Details, episodes & analysis

Summer Tales

Am a crazy New York Yankees baseball fan and seldom miss one of the 161 games they play each summer.But my ability to watch those boys of summer games on TV hit a glitch until a kind lady named Jennifer Vivas who works for YES The Yankees Entertainment &Sports Network both assuaged my fears, and found my signal and sent it to me.So I sat right down and wrote her a letter now shared here with a bit of LaGuardia Airport history

Return with us now to yesteryear ....As we approach another anniversary of that terrible day The National September 11,(2001) Memorial & Museum leads the nation, and the world, in marking the the day that changed our lives forever. The 23nd anniversary commemoration ceremony will take place next week in Manhattan at the WTC Memorial Plaza, focused as always on an in-person reading of the names of the 3000 souls lost in the tragedy, by family members and friends who like all of us will never forget.

But what of the people that were inside that somehow made it to the outside and live on today?

Our friend and head air cargo guy for Port Authority of New York & New Jersey is one of those people.

Today Jim Larsen who was ex Seaboard World Cargo when he became the second and so far greatest most innovative airport cargo executive you ever met lives quietly by himself in Lakehurst New Jersey about an hour from New Yok City.

But on that bright beautiful day September 11 and 08:00 he sat down inside Tower One, and as the first plane crashed into his building thought the tower was going to turn over, and it was curtains for him and everyone else on the 65th floor of the building.

Here is a timeless story of true courage and greatness told once again just as he told us a few days after his miraculous survival and great courage as Jim became a great hero of that terrible day walking all the way down and out of that soon to crash building with others including physically challenged people.

It’s Summer Dog Days and time when cargo people and their organizations kick back a bit, almost everywhere in the world by taking one for the team at various golf and social events outside the daily grind of industry events.Trade shows and upbeat discussion groups and company pitchmen and women are off somewhere spending lazy afternoons for a brief few weeks, catching their breath after a very active business and social first half of 2024.While the interlude in contact air cargo will be brief, one way you can tell early July heralds a slow air cargo news month, is to Google “air cargo” as we did on July 8 to the following result:“Get your Tommy Hilfiger John Light Cargo Shorts in Khaki Only $48.00,” lit up our screen for the Google search word "Cargo."When a snazzy pair of cargo shorts is bigger 'cargo' news than “sustainability, digitalization, or artificial intelligence” in Google, that seems like a good time to get to work to find news that is always there, where the rubber meets the road.Exciting news from Emirates SkyCargo, which has just named Badr Abbas as Divisional Senior Vice President (DSVP) SkyCargo, reporting to Nabil Sultan, who himself got upped from DSVP SkyCargo to Emirates Airline Executive Vice President Passenger Sales and Country Management, (also in charge of SkyCargo).EK come to think of it has only had three top Cargo executives (DSVP’s) since it was founded in 1985, the aforementioned duo named here and the man that put them into business in the first place, Ram Menen.

Having launched FlyingTalkers, a weekly podcast every Monday for air cargo 18 months ago, I guess we could only expect that it would just be a matter of time until someone  came along and branded Cargo Talks.

Turkish Airlines Cargo is putting up Cargo Talks, a first-time webinar that takes place beginning at 11:30 GMT Tuesday February 10.

Rates Clobber India Flower Exports

The flower farms at Bengaluru, Pune and a few other places are alive with color but this has not brought smiles to the growers and exporters.

Reason: Covid-19 and its aftermath.

Let’s separate the signal from the noise. Praveen Sharma, President, Indian Society of Floriculture Professionals (IFSP) was blunt when he told FlyingTalkers:

“2020 was the toughest year in the recent past for Indian flower growers for two reasons: the Covid-19 lockdown and the Nisarg Cyclone.”

Kung Hei Fat Choi

It is Lunar New Year: 2021 is the Year of the Ox. The new moon on February 11 heralds a new year that begins on Feb. 12, according to the lunar calendar.

But we are locked down during COVID-19 and going out for celebrations now is not an option.

But we are in this air cargo business and as such, we are also dreamers and doers.

So relax and dream a little dream about your post pandemic business life returning to include an expanded view toward travel.

For a while most people in air cargo transportation knew Lionel Van der Walt from the time he served as President of Cargo Network Services (CNS).

All of that has changed because for some time now Lionel has served as CEO of fast-rising PayCargo.

The thing about Lionel is that he is a genuine good guy.

He listens well, is not fearful of tough decisions and standing up for what is right. Most endearing, to us at least, is that he is somebody always willing to lend a helping hand.

A money guy with heart, what a concept!

Lionel van der Walt has the milk of human kindness by the quart in every vein.

COVID Will Shut Down 2021 Meetings

OK we get it that you are desperate to get out to a meeting.

But hear this  . . . it is February, a grim first anniversary of the world in the grip of COVID-19, and the pandemic is still raging everywhere.

So do the math, and have a reality check:

Truth be told, there is about an ice-cube’s chance in hell that any air cargo trade shows or live gatherings make much sense right now, or will take place in 2021.

The Wings of Man

In a world where timing is everything and COVID-19 has turned aviation upside down, the wonder is how could these folks behind this latest Eastern Airlines start-up attempt not feel snake bit?

Last year in early March as the COVID-19 began raging and we were all locked down wondering what would happen next, the tulip beds springing back to life around our home sent their quiet message of life and renewal and beauty.

In uncertain times being able to slow down a bit and contemplate the flowers works.

Undoubtedly if you work in the flower business whether growing or selling or shipping you have felt that a special affection endures.

We spoke to Joost Bongaerts the owner and President of California based Florabundance. 

Spend a few minutes with this gentleman and you will know what we mean.

In the U.S. on Monday January 18, our nation celebrates the life and legacy of Martin Luther KIng. MLK Monday comes along just as the nation is about to welcome a new President after many months of political acrimony and unrest, and with COVID-19 still the continued threat to lives everywhere. With a tip of our hat to Rev. King always, we continue FlyingTalkers groundbreaking series covering the courageous women of air cargo and aviation with a look back at pioneering aviatrix Bessie Coleman.
Next month America celebrates Black History Month, and March is Women’s History Month; It feels right today to celebrate  the life of a  beautiful human who is also as historically significant as Bessie Coleman.

To paraphrase musicologist Edward A. Ellington:

"If it feels good, it is good," said the Duke.

Our Martin Changed Air Cargo

If you want to learn about August Martin, the great air cargo pilot who flew for Seaboard World Airlines during the 1950’s, and was also the first black man to captain a U.S. flag air cargo airplane, you better plan on either using your old Funk & Wagnall’s Encyclopedia, or visiting the wonderful high school located near JFK International Airport in Queens, New York City named in honor of the air pioneer. Here is the rest of the story and why August needs to be honored by our industry.

 In America, February celebrates Black History Month and March celebrates Women’s History Month, which beggars the question of where to place someone as historically significant as Bessie Coleman. 

When Jan Krems began his tenure four years ago as top cargo executive at United Airlines Worldwide Cargo as President we wrote:

“Winston Churchill said of Franklin Roosevelt that 'meeting him was like uncorking your first bottle of champagne,' which is exactly what best describes talking to Jan Krems, President of United Airlines Cargo."

Face-to-face or on Zoom, take your pick, Jan comes across as a very broad thinker and a brilliant air cargo mind. But he also seems a very approachable guy who knows how to both motivate people and thought and have some fun as well.

United Cargo business is on fire all over the world setting new records, having moved somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 cargo only flights. Right Now Krems and his team have UA Cargo out front and pulling away from every other U.S. flag combination carrier in the air cargo business.

A LaGuardia Love Affair

Hard to believe that I have been having this affair in public for the past 43 years. She is  beautiful, one of a kind. And still today the very thought of The Marine Air Terminal (MAT) at LaGuardia Airport in New York City makes my heart sing. In 1978 the MAT was an overlooked, slightly long in the tooth run down part of LaGuardia Airport.

Today the MAT is alive and well, and as one of the first buildings on any airport in the USA to be designated a Historic Landmark (1980), you would think her future is assured.

But now some people want to use the MAT and make some changes that are little more than a device to proclaim there own importance.

To that we say, wait just a New York minute!

There is a celebration this week in New York City. The nearly three quarters of a million people that are mostly commuters going to and from work in New York & New Jersey have been forced to travel pre-pandemic through Pennsylvania (Penn) Station in Manhattan, a daily subterranean dismal railroad encounter since the misdirected destruction in 1963 of the monumental Beaux Arts 1910 version of Penn Station. These commuters will get some relief beginning later this week when a new passenger experience begins on January 1st.

Happy New Year 2021!

A moving holiday essay from a loving daughter decorates and drives our holiday spirit this muted Christmas 2020 during COVID-19.

Here is how Christmas ought to be, ,once was , and pray will be again, when the Pandemic of 2020 finally moves into the rear view mirror.

Florence Arend(we call her Flossie, takes off the gloves and paints a powerful word picture of her Christmas.

"Every year around this time, I struggle to find new words to offer to our loyal FlyingTypers’ readers. I am not immune to the warm responses inspired by our annual Christmas story, and I would be posturing if I said it doesn’t feel good to know it is so well received. However, the pressure mounts to say something new; to not rehash the things you already know; to provide some meaningful insight into our holiday gathering.
    You know we are a family business in an age when most companies yearn to proclaim that simply for the feel-good cachet it affords them. People love a good legacy story. We just celebrated our 45th anniversary and no, you can’t put a price on that. In a world where everything has been commodified, you still can’t buy time or experience."