Bach to the future: NWA’s new cargo chief puts focus on freighters

Bach to the future: NWA’s new cargo chief puts focus on freighters Tom Bach, the new head of cargo for Northwest Airlines, said the carrier has beefed up its management and maintenance program to improve the efficiency of its freighter fleet.
   From February to July, Bach said the airline struggled to get its freighter fleet to “run reliably.” Since August, the Minneapolis-St. Paul-based airline has hired technicians and expanded its maintenance hangar in Anchorage. Bach recently replaced Jim Friedel, who led NWA Cargo for 11 years and now serves as the airline’s senior vice president for strategic planning.
   Bach, a 24-year veteran of the airline, said the freighters have operated at a 90 percent or better on-time ratio in recent months.
   To keep up the efficiencies, Bach plans to hold regular staff meetings on freighter reliability issues and initiatives, and revenue management improvements. “If it’s not a priority, it can get lost,” he told Shippers’ NewsWire in an interview on Monday.
   Northwest, which recently emerged from bankruptcy, is the only U.S. combination carrier (operating both passenger and cargo services) with a dedicated Boeing 747 freighter fleet. The carrier operates 14 B747-200s, of which today 12 are in active service and two are in reserve status. The freighters are deployed in the transpacific trades.
   In January, Bach said NWA Cargo would make a “network change” in Asia. The carrier has operated an all-cargo service from Anchorage to Osaka and Guangzhou, and back to Anchorage via Osaka. The Anchorage-Osaka leg is weak, Bach noted. NWA Cargo will shift the network to operate from Anchorage to Narita, Guangzhou, Osaka and back to Anchorage. The change will allow NWA Cargo to better target the perishables business to Narita and Osaka’s stronger outbound cargo to the United States.
   Bach said NWA Cargo will also pull its freighters off its long-time Narita/Singapore/Bangkok/Narita route. “We’re interested in focusing our planes on Asia-U.S. routes” to handle additional U.S. imports from Asia, he said. “In the spring, we’ll look at new routes.” ' Chris Gillis