INDUSTRY
INTERVIEW
Embracing
change
ECS’ CEO, Adrien Thominet, spoke to ALI about his company’s
philosophy - and its plans for 2019.
According to Adrien Thominet, 2018 was once again very
positive for the group.
“Firstly, there was the arrival of new shareholders
(Naxicap), which allowed us to significantly boost our investment
plan and to work on new acquisitions to expand our already
significant network even further. On this point, 2018 was also the
year in which we acquired a new GSSA: BCS AIR in Brazil.
“Our partnership is the result of a long friendship, and we
are now enjoying all the benefits. The BCS AIR team, led by the
excellent João Ferreira, is what you could call the prototypically
perfect team – they’re well-known as the leading GSSA in Brazil, in
terms of both technical skills and innovation. They’re a dynamic,
passionate team who are fully committed to the future of our
group and to its expansion, in particular in Latin America.
“It was also the year in which we strengthened our commercial
positioning with the expansion of our expertise in Total Cargo
Management where we completely replace the airline across its
entire cargo chain. This service offering, which is at the heart of
our strategy, demonstrates the trust our partner airlines have in
our expertise and our performance. We’ve forged partnerships of
this kind with JetStar Asia, Air Italy and, more recently, NokScoot.
We’re extremely proud of these partnerships, which are central to
our group’s future.
“It’s a really exciting challenge for us and a new step in the
group’s development, 20 years after it was first created. Following
in the footsteps of 2018, 2019 is set to be a true milestone year for
ECS Group.”
A question of definition
But what exactly is ECS? The company website, after all, mentions
GSA, TCM as well as GSSA services.
“The offers we provide to airlines are all equally important
because they’re adaptable to our partners’ needs. At ECS Group,
we believe that every airline is unique, which means that we need
to provide a custom-made offering. That’s why every partnership
is different and why our services reflect this diversity. As such, we
offer a very broad range of services that extend well beyond GSA
in the strictest sense, which simply involves selling our partners’
cargo capacity. We don’t just
have a single contract template;
our offer includes expertise
across the entire cargo chain
as we also specialise in TCM,
something in high demand
among our partners. In the case
of TCM, we manage the entire
cargo chain on behalf of the
airline, which makes it a very
rich service. And of course, it
goes without saying that we
adapt to our partners’ specific
requirements.
“We also put a lot of
emphasis on the human
factor. Thanks to our teams
worldwide, who are specialists
in their market and who put
everything into place on
a daily basis to ensure our
partners are perfectly satisfied,
we have real expertise that
allows us to adapt to their
every need.”
ECS is truly global, but are
there significant regions for its
operation?
“Historically, the ECS Group
has been most active in Europe,
as this was where the group
was founded and first began to
develop.
“However, ECS Group
now has a presence in the
four corners of the globe,
and through our network,
we cover every continent.
But that hasn’t stopped us
from pursuing our organic
growth through acquisitions
(recently in Latin America
and last year with EXP-AIR
Cargo in Canada). Others are
also in progress, and we make
it a daily challenge to think
up new ways to expand our
group. We strive to strengthen
potential synergies between
subsidiaries to create a strong,
efficient network for our client
airlines and to optimise their
revenue, even outside of their
usual routes. We truly value
this network as the source
of our strength, and work to
bolster it on a daily basis. This
is particularly true in northeast
Asia and the Pacific.
“It’s also this dynamic that
acts as our driving force across
every continent, and we’re
constantly looking for new
partnerships that are stable and
sustainable.”
What effect has e-commerce
had on the operation?
“The expansion of
e-commerce has given
airfreight a significant boost,
which has been particularly
visible since the end of
2017. Above all, this is a
transformation in the approach
taken to logistics rather than
the creation of a new flow
in the strictest sense. It has
mainly affected the way that
freight forwarders work, with
less of an impact on airlines.
“We need to see this as an
opportunity for the air cargo
industry, one that opens up
new possibilities, despite the
fact that e-commerce could
clearly have an impact on
our traditional activities. But
competition is an excellent
driving force and an incentive
to outdo ourselves. That’s why
we at ECS Group don’t see
the growth in e-commerce as
having a negative impact
12 February 2019 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
/www.airlogisticsinternational.com