ACU JULY-19 Final LR

COVER STORY
resulting in an overall load factor of
67.9% for the year.
Forson also credited their growth
t o “ s t r o n g f o c u s o f t h e
management on their capacities
and yields, increased demand for
specialized shipments, a record
year for our charter division and the
diversification into offering ACMI
solutions all contributed to the
performance achieved” and their
dedicated staff.
“No one is more important than
the other. If I don't have someone
to load in the aircraft, we won't be
able to fly,” Forson said of their
operations. “It's a 24/7 365 job as
far as I'm concerned, day or night
it's up in the air (the freighters).”
He added that he continues to
encourage employees to work
harder to make Cargolux a success.
“I tell them if they want sustainable
jobs then help me make Cargolux a
sustainable business from a
financial perspective, from an
environmental perspective while
keeping our social responsibility
towards employees and the
community that we operate in.”
The CEO said it helps that
Cargolux continues to invest on
people, technology, facilities and
infrastructure making their work
easier and more efficient for
customers who demand quality
service.
“To be sustainable we have to be
agile. We have to be flexible. And to
do that you have to be ready to
change in a moment's notice. You
have to accept that there will be
some issues along the way but the
important thing for me is to realize
that there are solutions available
for those issues,” said Forson who
has been in the aviation industry
since 1990 working his way up to
become the CEO of one of the
world's biggest cargo carriers.
Cargolux plans to hire
more people while taking
major transformations
like completely overhauling
its IT system to streamline
processes, synergize teams
internally and enhance
customer experience.
Forson said these are all part of
the company's lean and green
p h i l o s o p h y a n d o n g o i n g
digitalization initiatives.
“We're now taking it to the next
step. A lot of things will be
automated,” he said.
Cargolux seems to be heading
for another busy year. The cargo
carrier announced in June it's
s e r v i n g J a k a r t a , t h e 1 6 t h
destination in its Asia-Pacific
network. The once a week flight
leaves the Grand-Duchy on Sunday
and arrives in Jakarta on Monday.
The rotation then continues
through Hong Kong and Ashgabat
before returning to Luxembourg
on Tuesday morning.
On July 1, it launched a third
weekly frequency to Xiamen to
meet growing customer demand.
The new service, CV9721 is
operated every Monday morning,
departing Luxembourg at 8:10 a.m.
with arrival in Xiamen on Tuesday
at 4:40 a.m.
The return flight, CV9731, is
scheduled to leave Xiamen at 6:15
a.m. and is routed through Los
Angeles before returning to
Luxembourg where it lands at 6:15
a.m. (All times provided are local),
cementing Cargolux's strong
p o s i t i o n i n C h i n a a n d o n
transpacific trade lanes.