keeping hold of it. It’s still not
seen as sexy. There’s an image
of standing outside in extreme
temperatures of minus 45ºC,
or plus 40ºC. It’s perceived as
not clean and as hard work.
When I did a presentation at
an aeronautical college and
asked whether students might
consider working in air cargo,
there was a chorus of ‘no’. All
the glamour is seen to be on
the passenger side.
There’s also the issue of
low pay, especially in the US.
Some of the unskilled ground
handlers are working at two
or three jobs to make ends
meet. If you can make more
at MacDonald’s, why would
you want to work in air cargo?
To attract the brightest young
graduates with a Master’s
in Data Analytics, which is
increasingly critical, you are
competing with the likes of
Amazon and other companies
in the banking, investment,
and manufacturing industries,
who pay around £38,000
to £70,000 (US$50,000 to
US$95,000) as a starting salary.
Is there truth in the
stereotypes?
We have to admit there’s
some truth and the industry
has to work hard to change
working conditions to create a
more agreeable environment
– for example, by introducing
fl exible working patterns
wherever possible. But it’s
not all doom and gloom. We
also need to get across that
it’s an exciting sector to work
in. I love it because every
day is different and there are
constantly new challenges.
Those of us who have fallen in
love with air cargo joke that the
PAX workers are “over on the
dark side”.
Another complaint you
hear from people at cargo
airlines is that they are
seen as the ‘stepchild’ of
the company and that the
passenger division is considered
much more important. That’s
understandable when you
consider overall revenue. But
we can be proud of the fact
that lots of routes would not be
viable without air cargo.
Is there still an issue with
recruiting women into air
cargo?
There’s something of an old
boys’ network, which makes
it harder for women to break
in. Many companies are stuck
the glamour is
seen to be on the
passenger side
Lilian Tan, VP, Learning & Development,
Strategic Aviation Solutions International
in their old ways and not
changing fast enough. I don’t
want to exaggerate, though.
There are quite a number now,
especially carriers, who are
trying their best to change this
culture. Personally, I have been
fortunate. All the managers
I have worked for have been
men, but they have also been
positive about promoting equal
opportunities. They believed in
supporting the best person for
the job. Their attitudes helped
me to see that I could have a
great career in cargo. It’s also not
always about gender and you’ve
got to fi ght it the prejudice out
there, but in a positive way.
How does air cargo’s mindset
need to change?
It is critical for all supply
chain partners to become
more collaborative. But the
industry still tends to be much
too siloed. The structure of a
lot of companies means they
don’t see anything beyond
what’s in front of them. One
of the goals of our training is
to get everyone to understand
the domino effect of what
they’re doing. Most are not as
self-suffi cient as Amazon, or
Alibaba, so they are reliant on
talking and collaborating to get
where they want to go.
Do the forwarders attend the
courses?
Our courses are targeted at as
many of the different players
as possible. Ideally, they would
all come and exchange ideas.
Unfortunately, it’s not always
possible to get the forwarders
involved. I did a training
session for TIACA in Atlanta
and we had airlines, ground
handlers, station managers,
integrators, TSA, CBP and
even venture capitalists. But
there were no forwarders as
they, understandably, prefer to
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