Collaboration and sustainability top TIACA summit agenda

Partnership, modernisation and sustainability were among the key topics at the TIACA Executive Summit held in Budapest.

TIACA also shared its ambition to strengthen the role of members as ambassadors of their association, and made a commitment to pursue collaboration efforts with the whole industry.

Steven Polmans, board chairman at TIACA, said: “Who can be better ambassadors for TIACA than the members themselves? This is our role if we want to reach our common goal, developing our industry.”

Polmans, director cargo and logistics at Brussels Airport, continued: “We are not going to revolutionise everything at once. We need to work step by step. We want to involve our members more and to do that we need to ensure that they and the industry as a whole are better informed.”

Vladimir Zubkov, secretary general of TIACA, said that one of association’s key objectives was to build and nurture partnerships at the global and regional level: “And we are not just saying that – we act. In fact, during the Executive Summit, we’ve signed two main agreements with Pharma.aero and Routes.”

Polmans said that cooperation remains of the “utmost importance,” in fragmented industry with several different professional organizations and associations.

Being the meeting point of the air cargo industry is also about sharing knowledge and best practices, through training programs, for instance, and offering a platform for networking. Added Zubkov: “One of the real sources of added value that TIACA brings is its ability to facilitate exchanges, discussions and partnership.”

Observed Polmans: “This conference was incredibly rich in terms of content but also in the way in which it created chemistry between the stakeholders.”

Sustainability was a key focus at the TIACA event, with the official launch of the Sustainability Program, the first Working Group and the first Sustainability Award.

Said Polmans: “Sustainability is not just being green; it is much more than that. Of course, it’s about planet but it also includes the people and prosperity dimensions. And after those three days, I am sure all the attendees got back home convinced and inspired.”

The conference also focused on modern practices that will make air cargo more efficient, the digital future of air cargo, the impacts of e-commerce, the importance of quality in ground operations and the volatility of global trade.