INDUSTRY
INTERVIEW
A fresh take
Felicity Stredder caught up with Avianca’s Ruben Atehortua, who recently traded in
the familiar territory of ground handling for the cargo division.
Atehortua began his
career in Avianca as
the Commercial and
Airports Chief at Avianca
Services, being promoted
to Ground Operations
Manager for the Bogota hub
in 2015 and then to Ground
Operations Director two years
later. In September 2019 he
took a leap into the unknown,
becoming Avianca’s new Cargo
Operations Director. He spoke
to ALI about the transition –
and his work thus far.
Handling new ground
Atehortua readily admits
that cargo was not on his
radar prior to being offered
his current position. “When
you’re in the passenger side,
cargo is a completely far away,
different business. The Human
Resources VP called me and
told me ‘there’s going to be a
good opportunity for you in
cargo’. I told her I didn’t know
anything about cargo but she
said I had all the right skills.”
Atehortua did some research
into cargo within Avianca and
realised that his perspective
from the ground handling
side could be of benefit.
“Somehow, cargo needs to
connect more to the passenger
side in terms of everything; in
terms of the teams, in terms
of their operation, because
they have always been like two
different worlds. I think that’s
another reason why they
asked me.”
He identifies the main
distinctions between the two
disciplines. “For me, the cargo
is a more strategic business in
that it’s B2B. You don’t have
tonnes of passengers or tonnes
of baggage going around.
You’re not dealing with a
customer that paid US$200 for
an airline ticket; you’re dealing
with a guy that brings you
millions of dollars per year in
shipments. So you need to be
more strategic in the way you
operate, the way you manage
the relationship with your
customer,” he observes.
In Brazil, where perishables
movements, from asparagus
to flowers, are numerous, this
is all the more important, he
notes. “There are two or three
owners and that’s it. So you
need to have that relationship
running well because if not,
you’re going to be in big
trouble.”
Learning the ropes
While he’s taken the new
role in his stride, the change
of tack was not without its
challenges, Atehortua relates.
“Learning about cargo is a
challenge. I knew nothing about the cargo side before; I’ve been
my whole life in ground handling. In operational aspects there’s
a lot of crossover, but you have to learn about the cargo itself
in terms of the customs, the process, the warehouses – which
is more a logistics thing. So that’s a big challenge,” he begins.
“The other challenge is to understand the business in an holistic
way, because sometimes when you are in operations you just see
your component of the process, but you need to go backwards
or forwards, above or below your process to understand better
what’s going on. Another challenge is learning about the
regulations of the customs through the different countries. That’s
a headache!” he admits.
Initial observations – and plans
As a fresh pair of eyes into the industry, Atehortua flags up the
problem areas he has already identified – and how he has drawn
on his experience in ground handling to address them.
“We are continually having problems with the tracking of
the air waybills, knowing physically where the cargo is, because
it has to connect, go on other airlines, go in and out of the
warehouse – it moves a lot. When I was on the ground handling
side, I implemented the Baggage Reconciliation System. So I
was speaking with my team, and we’re thinking of what we call
ARS, Air Waybill Reconciliation System, which is the same set-up
as BRS but instead of a bag tag number you would have an air
waybill number. So you can scan it when loading, when moving,
in order to track the cargo’s physical whereabouts.” Having done
some research, Atehortua believes that this does not yet exist in
the market. “We are already speaking with our provider to see
how we can develop that.
“Also, on the passenger service side, I was working on a huge
project before I moved called an Airports Control Centre, where
you can see all the flights from the whole network, you are
supervising your suppliers and they are using mobile applications
to record all the work they’re doing, so you can monitor your
operation live to see what delays you are getting or why you are
getting delays. I want to do the same thing but in cargo because
it doesn’t exist. A Cargo Control Centre (CCC),” he enthuses.
This is different from a Warehouse Management System
34 February 2020 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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