Airport attends world’s largest air cargo conference
By A.B. Snedeker

Every two years, leaders from the global air cargo and logistics industry gather for an exposition and conference. This is an opportunity for different segments of the industry to meet and discuss trends, challenges, opportunities and best practices.

This year, Hartsfield-Jackson and its partners attended the 25th International Air Cargo Forum and Exposition of The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) November 2-4 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Delta Air Lines, UPS and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce joined the Airport in exhibiting at the three-day event.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed also attended the TIACA conference so that he could meet personally with cargo airline executives and speak with them about the benefits of doing air cargo business in Atlanta. When he was elected, Reed made it a priority to increase Hartsfield-Jackson’s air cargo business.

The mayor shared the following key messages with the cargo airline executives:

• Hartsfield-Jackson is a 24-hour airport with no slot or curfew restrictions. Hartsfield-Jackson has plenty of landing, ramp and warehouse capacity to accommodate increased air cargo flights.
• The Airport offers significant opportunities for growth for Latin and South American perishables markets.
• Cargo is being trucked out of Atlanta to be flown out of airports in other cities, such as Chicago, Miami and Dallas. The Airport is looking to add airlines in order to increase the capacity to fly this cargo out of Atlanta.

Another reason that Reed attended the conference was to invite representatives of the air cargo and logistics industry to join him in Atlanta for the 2012 TIACA event. Hartsfield-Jackson, Delta Air Lines, UPS and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce are co-hosting the 50th anniversary forum and exposition at the Georgia World Congress Center in November 2012.

Hartsfield-Jackson produced a video that depicts its cargo operation. The video, which was presented at the Airport’s booth at the conference, is pasted below.