Jacques Ancher, executive VP of KLM Cargo for 11 years until his retirement in 2001, was inducted into the TIACA Hall of Fame at its Executive Summit in Istanbul.
Ram Menen, recently retired VP of Emirates SkyCargo and a member of TIACA’s Chairman’s Council, described Ancher as an industry pioneer who found innovative solutions in market segments where KLM built a world-leading reputation, such as perishables and live animal movements.
Enno Osinga, senior VP cargo at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, and Oliver Evans, chief cargo officer at Swiss WorldCargo, both worked at the Dutch carrier earlier in their careers and paid warm tribute to Ancher’s people development skills.
Evans, current TIACA chairman, said, “Many senior figures in the industry would not be where they are today without his mentoring.”
In an emotional speech, Ancher stressed the importance of giving managers their wins. “You’ve got to let people experiment,” he said.
In a revealing comment about the pressures on freighter operators today, he said that if he were still active in the industry, “I would discourage Boeing from making aircraft with such big bellies.”
Ancher’s receiving of the Hall Of Fame honor for 2014 neatly echoes one of TIACA’s inaugural awards to Albert Plesman in 1997.
Plesman founded KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the world’s oldest scheduled airline with a continuous history, in 1919 and launched its cargo division in 1953.