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Ben Anh, managing director of ITL aviation services, a cargo and passenger general sales and services agent (GSSA) based in Ho Chi Minh City, advises: “During the good times, prepare for the hard times and, in the hard times, prepare for the good times.” This philosophy, he claims, has allowed the 10 year old company to get through the current downturn “quite well”. What is more, he noted:” We already see some rays of hope for next year and beyond.”
This year’s big win for the company was a deal agreed with Northwest Airlines to represent its B757 cargo space available from Ho Chi Minh to Tokyo and form there to destinations in the US.
The fact that there is an open skies cargo agreement in effect between the us and Vietnam, which gives ITL free range to sell all available freight capacity on the service, means it was “a very good award for us”, Anh enthused.
He has looked to expand ITL’s customer base and improve its service offering. “by helping airlines gain market share, we improve our own market share,: he observed. ITL is currently handling eight carriers operating a total of 72 flights a week from both Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat and Hanoi’s Noi Bai airports – 11 more flights a week than the company was representing in 2007, Anh said.
In addition: “we have sufficient capabilities to handle more if other foreign airlines decide to open routes to Vietnam.
“we wouldn’t be able to do such a big task if we had not been sufficiently well prepared and one of our main focuses is providing the operational efficiency for our principal airlines and customers/ agents.” Anh added:”it ‘s true to say that ITL now has one of the most experienced sales teams in the market.”
That will not be easy, given that Vietnam has been hard-hit by the global recession, he observed. The nation’s exports fell year on year by 13.5 percent during the first seven months of 2009 alone.
Cargo passing through Tan Son Nhat international airport was down by 19 percent year on year in the January – June period, and freight moving through Noi Bai international fell by 15 percent.
However, there are now positive signs. In the north of the country, industrial output is growing, he said, while in the south of Vietnam there has been a boom in exports of fresh fruit, beside the traditional trade in garments and footwear. Moreover, perhaps best of all from the point of view of ITL aviation services for its future expansion: “We have noticed the outsourcing trend of cargo sales from airlines in this market and we are ready to act positively on it,” Anh concluded.
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Northwest Airlines will be the second US airline to fly to Vietnam 
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