Wings Financial Partners with Airforwarders Association
Air Cargo Files for Chapter 11, Sets Layoffs
Traffic Rises as Yields Continue to Fall, IATA Says
Diversions lift U.S. air freight

Wings Financial Federal Credit Union Partners with Airforwarders Association

Apple Valley, MN - Dec. 9 - Wings Financial Federal Credit Union, one of the largest federally-chartered credit unions in the United States and the first credit union in the country dedicated to employees of the air transportation industry, announced today that it has entered into a partnership with the Airforwarders Association to provide financial services to the associations' members and their employees.

"The Airforwarders Association has a great reputation for delivering tangible benefits to its members and their employees around the world," said Paul Parish, Wings Financial FCU president and chief executive officer. "They recognize the advantage of providing their members with access to a full-service financial institution that is attuned to the unique culture of the aviation community. We are very excited about their ability to help us reach out to this part of the industry."

"We believe in delivering value to our members; our partnership with Wings Financial will provide them with immediate, tangible improvements in the quality and range of financial services available to them," said David E. Wirsing, executive director of the Airforwarders Association. "Employee satisfaction is a key factor in a service business like the forwarding industry and we believe the products and convenience of Wings Financial's offerings will be well-received by our members and their employees."

As part of the agreement, Wings Financial will be designated as the exclusive financial institution of the Airforwarders Association. The two organizations will conduct joint marketing and promotional efforts within the association's membership and eligible employees. The two organizations will also work together to provide relevant information to members through the association's internal communications channels as well as through targeted external communications.

About the Airforwarders Association…
As the voice of the airforwarding industry, the Airforwarders Association serves to safeguard and further the interests of airforwarders everywhere. Their commitment to excellence has made the AfA a strong presence within the halls of Congress, Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration and the trade industries whose livelihoods depend on a healthy air cargo business sector. Founded by three companies in 1990, the AfA actively promotes partnership and single-minded cooperation that are imperative to compete successfully in today's sophisticated and competitive global markets. The Airforwarders Association exists to help its members maintain and increase market share, to improve systems and operating conditions, increase profits, create marketing opportunities, impact legislation that affects its industry and to provide the highest level of service to its members' forwarding customers.

For more information, visit their web site at www.airforwarders.org.

About Wings Financial FCU…
Wings Financial Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Apple Valley, Minnesota, is a member-owned, full-service financial institution founded in 1938. The credit union serves 118,000 members around the world and has $1.5 billion in assets. It is the largest credit union in Minnesota and one of the largest nationally. Its field of membership includes the majority of people who work in, or have retired from, the U.S. air transportation industry. Included in the credit union's field of membership are all airline and airport employees along with government employees working for the Federal Aviation Administration or Transportation Security Administration.

For more information, visit our web site at www.wingsfinancial.com or call (952) 997-8000.

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Air Cargo Files for Chapter 11, Sets Layoffs

The Annapolis (www.baltimoresun.com) freight logistics company Air Cargo Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in U.S. District Court in Baltimore yesterday.

Anne Arundel County officials said last week that Air Cargo would lay off 60 of its 80 workers as a result of the filing. Air Cargo said Friday that it intended to cease some operations immediately and file for bankruptcy protection this week.

The privately held company, created in 1941, primarily is owned by the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm in Washington, and 17 commercial airlines. It manages the movement of ground freight and provides management services such as billing for the airlines and its other 70 clients.

Air Cargo listed more than 200 creditors in its filing. In the documents, the company listed its assets at $16.3 million and debt at $17.9 million.

Doug Faber, the company's president and chief executive, could not be reached for comment yesterday. But he said last week that the company would no longer move freight to and from airports on the airlines' behalf.

Faber said Air Cargo would continue to provide such services as contract management, freight auditing and invoicing and payment services.

It also will continue to publish its Air Freight Directory, an industry-pricing guide. A former executive said yesterday that the problems stem from the company's computer system. Rifts occurred with the trucking contractors that form the extensive network Air Cargo relies on to move freight.

The company had trouble recovering, and it also might have been hurt by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which grounded air freight temporarily, said David E. Wirsing, a former vice president of Air Cargo who left the company in 1998 when, he said, troubles were beginning. "I'm very disappointed because Air Cargo did serve a vital role in the air freight industry," he said.

Wirsing, now executive director of the Airforwarders Association, an industry trade group based in Alexandria, Va., said airlines can handle the freight logistics themselves, which could be more costly for them, or hire other logistics companies, which could result in service disruptions. Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun

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Traffic Rises as Yields Continue to Fall, IATA Says

IATA reported a 10.8% year-on-year increase in scheduled international traffic for October, which took year-to-date traffic growth to 16.9% compared to first 10 months of 2003. International cargo traffic posted similar gains of 12.4% for October 2004 compared to October 2003 and 14% for the first 10 months of 2004 compared to the same period for 2003. 'Despite a negative economic environment and continued uncertainty on the price of oil, international traffic is growing at breakneck speed. Unfortunately traffic growth and profitability do not always go hand in hand and we still expect industry losses in excess of USD 4 billion for this year', said Giovanni Bisignani of IATA.

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Diversions lift U.S. air freight

An industry analyst said domestic air freight and express revenue-ton-miles increased a modest 1.2 percent in October, below the average annual increase of 4.6 percent, but better than the 3.8 drop in October 2003.

October's total was up 5.3 percent from September, and the highest since March of this year, Smith Barney analyst Scott Flower wrote in a report released Tuesday.

Flower said October's improvement was likely boosted by ocean traffic diverted from the congested ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach (www.joc.com), and expects the volume of diverted freight to slow now that the ports have cleared the cargo backlog.

In 2005 "ocean capacity will increase, which should limit ocean to air diversions. This may aid ocean net revenue margins at the forwarders to a degree," Flower wrote.

International freight and express revenue-ton-miles increased 14.3 percent year-over-year in October, and up 8.5 percent from September. Growth was fairly broad based, with two of the three regions surveyed showing year-over-year growth greater than 10 percent, as the Atlantic and Pacific regions grew 16.5 percent and 14.3 percent in October, and Latin American revenue grew 5.4 percent, against weaker year-ago levels.

The report said that looking ahead, a weaker dollar could have a depressing affect on international inbound air shipments; "however, this would also increase the attractiveness of U.S. goods in foreign markets, which could help support international freight."

Posted 9:46 a.m. ET, Tue Dec 7, 2004
Updated 3:21 p.m. ET, Tue Dec 7, 2004
The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE

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Airforwarders Association
1600 Duke Street, Suite 400
Alexandria, VA 22314