The pandemic has not only disrupted and shaken the air freight industry to the core, it has also hit cargo organizations and associations. They were forced to rapidly redefine their
strategy and visions as pre-corona plans turned to ash.
TIACA leaders, Steven Polmans and Vladimir Zubkov, illustrate in this guest contribution how The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) had to realign its aims and
processes.

From reactive to proactive
As the industry was experiencing an unprecedented economic hit, TIACA did what many others do in such circumstances – we reprioritized our focus:

• TIACA has joined the “ICAO Technical group on joint actions related to COVID-19” to draw attention both to the fundamental role that air cargo plays, and to the need to protect its
  continued existence and vitality. We urged governments to facilitate entry, departure, and transit of aircraft engaged in relief flights, and to implement all measures to facilitate the receipt
  of aid, including overflight and landing rights and necessary privileges and immunities for relief units.
• The Board set up a crisis Task Force to look at the budget, priorities, strengths, and weaknesses of TIACA. Conscious that the industry will be different after COVID-19, the Board decided to
  accelerate the transformation of the association: vision, mission, strategic focus, governance, delivery model, to be in line with members’ and the industry’s expectations.
• Proactively, learning from the early days of the pandemic and the logistics challenges of delivering PPEs all over the world, we partnered with Pharma.Aero to support our industry in being
  ready for the next biggest ever logistics challenge: handling, storing, and safely and efficiently transporting the future COVID-19 vaccines. In August, we launched project Sunrays, which aims at
  shining a light on the shippers’ requirements and vaccines specifications for the air cargo industry to prepare for and excel in.

Managing change while maintaining business continuity
TIACA is transitioning: work is now being undertaken to modernize our governance with the objectives of bringing more diversity, transparency, and agility into our decision process and better
serving our members and the industry. We redefined our vision for the air cargo industry, our mission, strategic focus, and our values: courage, inclusiveness, teamwork, and integrity. We have
also decided to insource one of our core activities: communication and outreach, so we are investing in tools and training, and working on a revamped website and new digital publications such as
our monthly newsletter, Cargo Pulse.

On way to becoming truly global
While transformation is on-going, it is also important to stick to our promise and be closer to our members and maintain business continuity. We carried out a survey amongst our members to
establish what they need and expect from their association, we are organizing members-only webinars to have two-way dialogue with our members, and have launched a Trustee Connect monthly
newsletter to inform our voting members on the activities, plans, and progress of TIACA. At the same time, via regional webinars and initiatives with partners such as ICAO and AFRAA, we also try
to get a bigger footprint in regions we have not been very active in in the past, and to become truly global.

Together with ICAO and SASI, we have developed a Safe Supply Chain training course to address current safety issues in the air cargo supply chain. The first virtual classroom is scheduled for 20
to 23 October. Additional dates will be proposed in a virtual set-up and in a traditional classroom format when the situation allows.

We believe sustainability is more relevant than ever. We are organizing the second edition of the Air Cargo Sustainability Awards, with the support of CHAMP Cargosystems, as rewarding innovative
projects is a positive message in this gloomy environment. It is key to advancing the conversation on how to sustainably transform air cargo to be ready to support individual companies when they
are ready to listen. This is why we are running a series of Sustainability4Cargo webinars and discussing with industry partners like ACI, FIATA, IATA on how to join forces.

TIACA is facing huge new tasks
The upcoming months are going to be intense and challenging, and we are committed to helping our members and the rest of the industry come out of this crisis stronger. With no doubt in the months
to come, the air cargo industry will continue its focus on preparing for the COVID-19 vaccine transportation, advancing sustainability goals, investing in digitization and continue innovating.
Digitization and innovation will be very high on our agenda in the near future. The new TIACA will be there to support the industry and we are personally looking forward to being a part of
this.

This guest article is co-authored by Steven Polmans, Chair, TIACA, and Vladimir Zubkov, Special Advisor to the Board on Industry Affairs, TIACA