AIC Talk | Celine Hourcade: Collaboration, the new key to the uncertain future (Part 1)

COVID-19 has fundamentally changed human history. Lockdown, social distance, online shopping and working from home become the “new normal” of our daily life. The core of adapting to the “new normal” lies in transformation. This episode, we invited Ms. Celine Hourcade, the transition director of TIACA and founder of Change Horizon, discussing the key trends affecting the air cargo industry in the upcoming years.

After serving IATA for 13 years, Celine left in May 2019 and founded  a consulting company, Change Horizon, with two young colleagues in September 2019. As a veteran in project management, strategy, transformation and innovation, Celine leads Change Horizon to support her customers with their development and transformation needs, especially in sustainable and digital strategies, business development, industry engagement. Change Horizon targets established companies in aviation and logistics, start-ups and industry organizations, anywhere in the world.

TIACA, an international non-for-profit trade association representing and uniting the air cargo industry, has appointed Celine in September 2019 with the mission to develop their sustainability and transformation programs, and in May 2020 as the Director ad interim while Change Horizon is driving the internal re-structuring the association.

INTERVIEWER

What do you think would be the five keywords of the post-COVID-19 era?

Celine Hourcade

Recovery is the first key words for the next five years. , Global economy, trade, social development are greatly impacted by the pandemic, so recovery is ans shall be everyone’s focus and first priority. I believe aviation and logistics will be key contributors to global economy’s recovery, facilitating global trade, cross-border e-commerce flows, deliveries of essential healthcare products like future COVID-19 vaccines worldwide as well as the movement of people.

Sustainability is very close to my heart, so it’s clearly the second keyword, and it is very much into recovery. In the so-called “new normal”, we should aim for rebuilding and recovering in a different way, which is more sustainable, environmental, global, and social. For companies that survive, they will gain competitive advantage by embedding sustainability in their future strategies.

The third one is digital. Digital was a keyword in the pre-COVID-19 era, but accelerated and smart digitalization will be a must in post-COVID-19 one: More relevant than ever to be competitive, efficient, modern, agile and to address new physical distancing requirements. The future business processes will need to be touchless, enabled by digital processes, technologies and mindset.

People are important. Even if we are moving into the digital era, we still need to invest in our people. With automation, some jobs will disappear, but others will be created. Skills needed in the future will be different from skills we needed yesterday. It requires investments in training, up-skilling and right-skilling. We also need to define cross-generation human resources strategies, taking care of the new generation, promising talents as well as the older ones. Let’s not miss the opportunity to build ethical business environment centered around people.

For the last word, I would say collaboration. Collaboration has been important and will be so for the next five years in the air cargo industry; however, it may be different. Opposite but also supplemented to competition that catalysts the business, collaboration stimulates open discussion where players all over the world share knowledge and best practices, promoting the integration of true humanity.  

Collaboration is what AIC is doing, which is having a community-based approach. AIC gathers players around the globe in one community by adopting a more collaborative approach to learn from each member of the community and bringing in your own experience.

INTERVIEWER

What opportunities are there waiting for the air cargo industry for the upcoming years?

Celine Hourcade

Capacity will remain the main challenge confronting the air cargo industry in the next few years. Traditionally, cargo can be transported in freighters or on bellies of passenger aircraft. With a dramatic reduction in passenger traffic and a pessimistic forecast for air travel volumes due to border restrictions or lack of confidence from travelers, we will continue seeing a capacity shortage. Airlines and aircraft manufacturers got innovative in converting passenger aircraft in “preighters”, passenger aircraft carrying only freight, but will that be enough in the longer term?

Traditionally, aviation industry has been prioritizing passenger business over cargo. This year, many airlines, airports, ground handlers realized cargo is a key contributor to their bottom line, and for many has been the saver of their company. I see a geat opportunity for cargo departments and cargo industry at large to build on this and ensure cargo is put higher on Boardrooms’ agendas. It is time to raise the profile of cargo within each company to get the needed investments, people, and focus to accelerate sustainable and digital transformation of air cargo.

I would say for the next five years, as digital and sustainable transformation coming underway, there’s an opportunity to rethink business models, and invent newly profitable ways to do business. E-commerce presents huge potential. During the lockdown, online-shopping changed the consumer’s behavior. Similar changes took place in the pharmaceutical industry, which is about to change the world. As soon as vaccines are discovered, the cargo and logistics industry will face tremendous challenges--delivering the “weapon” to fight against the disease around the world fast, safe and sound. Air cargo, under such circumstances, will be a key contributor to global health.

Disclaim

Responses have been edited for length.