Waka waka! If the mood at the recent Air Cargo Africa event in Johannesburg is any indication, the industry must be smelling the invisible roses – tell-tail signs that the bleak, barren cargo winter is about to finally recede. Being the skeptical bunch we are however, we’re not entirely convinced on the whole flower thing – not even if it’s being pitched by the ever-enthusiastic Enno, who is only out-enthused by a certain Emirates celeb!
We think it might have just been the perfect combination of a lot of other things that simply took people’s minds off the harshness of the real world. Like the non-stop free (and good!) food that the Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) stand serves up at every event. Some now understandably confuse the name WFS with World Food Stand. Then of course there is the ever-reliable Manston airport boys with their well stocked selection of Scotch. Oddly enough Alan and Gary nearly had to restock the selection after show attendees nearly wiped them out after only one day! And of course there was the tasty Belgian beer over at the Brussels stand. But that presented a bit of a dilemma as it required extreme self-restraint not to make diamond jokes while quaffing the free beer! You would be surprised how many diamond jokes tipsy air cargo people can come up with! The weather surely played a part too – Europeans and North Americans were reveling in the brilliant sunshine while the Bellyachers and those hailing from Southeast Asia were enjoying the dry heat, their pores resting for a change.
For smokers there was even a huge first class lounge indoors with comfy chairs! And even that BBC guy, who sticks to air cargo events like superglue, was actually funny! What is the world coming to? And of course throw in the cocktail parties, safari night and a gala dinner that reportedly was actually fun this year (the Bellyachers were hunkered down over our computers filing stories and sadly couldn’t attend). Undeniably RK and Priyo Patra sure know how to throw a party! And did we say the BBC guy was actually funny?! Oh I guess we did already and he probably hates us now…naw, he clearly doesn’t read air cargo publications! Oops, for sure he hates us now. There was even a standing ovation for a young, charismatic and clearly very bright government minister – all attributes that are generally in very short supply in most politicians – who spoke of the bright future the African continent was on the verge of.
But the event had its share of reality doses too. The woes of the industry were of course discussed at length, including many of the persistent problems afflicting the diverse African cargo market. Aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus – oops, no Airbus to be seen at the event – none to eager to talk about all the new aircraft rolling off the product lines that nobody can fill, or mounting freighter numbers in the desert and of course that ‘super-charged’ battery issue. There was also the disappointing, but neverthe- less amusing fact that the Ethiopian contingent were denied visas to come to South Africa. Africa Unite! And there was some melancholy too, what with the announcement only days before the event that industry veteran Ram Menon would be retiring this April.
There were the weird aspects too… like the fact every single building we saw while in Johannesburg had at least a six foot concrete wall topped with either razor wire or an electrified fence! Brings new meaning to the old saying ‘tall fences make good neighbours’! We also found the language barrier a bit of challenge now and again…apparently Afrikaans is almost as potent as Cantonese in terms of warping the English language! Oh and lest we forget, the 24-houra- day Oscar Pistorius drama that held the entire nation spell-bound (probably to this very moment) and continued to unfold on every media outlet, minute by minute – even without any new developments! The only thing missing from the week’s events was Shakira singing Waka Waka! Priyo please take note…you’ve got two years to put that one together!
The dreaded lip of doom! The boys at Manston lost count of how many people went airborne – with a few crash landings – as a result of this nasty little lip. One air cargo journo even managed to get airborne with a glass of Scotch in hand, landing safely and most importantly, not even spilling a drop of the amber liquid! We’re not telling who it was or what time it was (10AM!). Who says journalists don’t have specialist skills!
