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Introducing the new Air Cargo Week World Air Cargo Awards (WACA) Supervisory Panel
The Air Cargo Week World Air Cargo Awards were first held in Munich during air cargo Europe in 2007. It has since been held every year, alternately in Munich and Shanghai, during air cargo Europe and air cargo China, and now in its 18th year, it has grown hugely in popularity.
As with any Award ceremony, trying to maintain fairness, impartiality and transparency can be a difficult thing to get just right…. And we are not perfect! However, as we start our new journey under a brand-new management team, we feel the time is right to try to address some of the views and opinions that have been brought to our attention.
The ACW Awards have always been promoted as being “judged” by the industry and not us as the organiser. After all, how can we decide if one airport is better than another, or which company has excelled in their achievements in the last year? We cannot and therefore we leave that to the experts – you the very people who use the services.
Whilst we cannot decide who is nominated, or indeed who the eventual winners are, we can make sure the process is robust, fair, and above all – transparent. To this end, we have appointed a brand-new Supervisory Panel for the Air Cargo Week World Air Cargo Awards 2024. This Panel is made up of entirely independent professionals…. with no vested interest in the Awards, Azura International, or Air Cargo Week. The Panel will be responsible for overseeing the handling of the process externally. All nomination and voting data will be passed to the Panel (In confidence) in its raw format, with full details of exclusions including incorrect category nominations (for example a Freight Forwarder cannot be nominated in the Airport of the Year category) and self-voting companies.
Norman Bamford
Former joint owner and managing director of A-Z Group Limited (Azura International), publishers of Air Cargo Week, and founder of the ACW World Air Cargo Awards.
Norman’s sixty-year career in the global air cargo sector has encompassed senior airline management roles as well as directorships in an air charter broking company and general sales agent. As an experienced international aviation consultant, he was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in 1999.
Alina Fetisova
Trade Facilitation Programme Officer, Trade Facilitation and Policy for Business, International Trade Centre
At ITC, Alina specialises in project management and technical assistance in trade facilitation, trade policy, and supply chain management working in over 15 countries in Central Asia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. She is also focusing on gender-responsive trade facilitation reforms, supporting women entrepreneurs to strengthen their technical knowledge on cross-border trade and customs officials to integrate gender perspective in trade reforms.
Prior to joining the ITC, Alina worked at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), managing projects related to trade facilitation and regulatory standards. Alina is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Russian.
Brigitte Gledhill
Chief Correspondent, CargoForwarder Global
Brigitte Gledhill’s air cargo journey began in London in 1996, initially as a Lufthansa Cargo management trainee. After more than 21 years in various international positions covering every angle of air cargo from sales to handling, flight operations, marketing, claims, and product development, she became self-employed as a journalist, copywriter, and DE-EN translator.
Brigitte is a regular contributor to the free, weekly, air cargo niche-focused email newsletter, CargoForwarder Global. She seeks truth, honest content, and transparency when it comes to judging and selecting award winners.
Michael Duggan
Michael is a 30-year veteran of the air cargo industry with extensive experience in building freighter networks and business development with GSAs. Mike has worked in global markets with a mix of Middle East and US carriers such as Emirates, Saudia Cargo, DHL, and Southern Air.
Mike has significant experience in charter management and freighter conversions and is very well known in industry circles attending and presenting at many events globally. Mike is very well placed to provide independent and expert advice on performance and achievements in air cargo businesses -both old and new, large and small.
The Process
Entries open: Nominations for the Air Cargo World Air Cargo Awards 2024 commenced on 23rd October and were accepted until 15th December.
While companies are allowed to nominate themselves, they are prohibited from voting for their own nominations in case selected as a finalist. Each company can submit only one nomination per category, ensuring a fair and competitive process.
Following the close of nominations, a meticulous evaluation of the entries will begin, calculating the number of nominations each company received. The more nominations a company received, the greater its chance of making it to the finalist list. There are a maximum of seven finalists in each of the categories except for the Airline of the Year which has a maximum of 10.
Voting period: Voting takes place on the aircargoweek.com website, where participants can cast their votes for the finalists. The voting period spans several weeks until 3rd May 2024.
After voting closes the results are carefully examined, with self-voting companies invalidated and removed from the results. There is one winner per category and the results are based entirely on the number of votes received.
Winners will be revealed at the Awards ceremony at air cargo China in Shanghai in June 2024.
Confidentiality: To maintain the confidentiality of the process, details on votes received are known only by key personnel: The Director of Operations (Kim Smith), Norman Bamford (Chairman of the Supervisory Board), Dawn Jolley (Accountant), and finally the Supervisory Board members.
Complaints: In the rare event of disputes post-Awards, a thorough investigation and resolution process will take place. Azura International’s Managing Director and Director of Operations will lead the investigation, working in collaboration with the Supervisory Board to ensure fairness and transparency.