Lindmark ‘is in excellent company’ as he readies to celebrate 50 years in air freight
airCargo #236 archive stories
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Another air freight industry stalwart will hit the half-century mark next month. And he’s not planning to throw in the towel just yet, writes John Newton.
Borje Lindmark follows in the footsteps of Wexco Aviation Services trio David Williams, Russell Freeman and former WA cargo manager Geoff Lord, who all notched up 50 years in the industry last year.
Now it’s the turn of MCH Aviation Holding chairman Lindmark, who achieves the milestone on 01 May. “I honestly don’t know how long I will continue. I still enjoy the different daily challenges – there’s never a dull moment,” he said.
After completing National Service in the Swedish military, Lindmark started his first job in the air cargo industry in May 1965, working as a cargo officer/load planner for Scandinavian Airlines in Stockholm. He later worked for a freight forwarder before moving to Australia in 1967.
On arrival in Sydney, he resumed his career in the freight forwarding industry, managing air export operations for Airborne Meadows there before transferring to Melbourne to manage its air freight import/export operations.
In 1970 – the year that Tullamarine airport opened - he began a long Australian career as a cargo reservations agent with Pan American Airways when he was one of only a handful of air cargo workers in Melbourne. “Then, there were only three main cargo carriers – Pan Am, Alitalia and Qantas – and there’s only one of them left now. “1970 was also the year when the first B747 transpacific services commenced, increasing the importance of air cargo as a substantial revenue earner. These included the first freighter operations from Australia to the US and Europe,” he said.
Lindmark remained with Pan Am for more than 15 years before moving to United Airlines which started services to Australia in 1986.
It was while he was with United that flower power became a big freight export story for the airline – and in particular for Lindmark, by then its Melbourne-based cargo manager cargo sales and operations.
The carrier had seen a strong demand for flower exports from Victoria to Los Angeles since the early 1990s when it was exporting around 100 boxes a year, each weighing 15-20 kgs. By 2006, this figure had shot up to 1000 boxes – the equivalent of a 20-tonne cargo payload on a B747. This achievement resulted in Lindmark being awarded United Pacific Division Sales Person of the Year.
According to Lindmark, the start up of operations in Melbourne by Menzies in the late 1990s sparked a major change in the air cargo industry at Tullamarine. “The move by Menzies to set up a purpose-built cargo building – at the time the only major expansion in Melbourne since 1970 – increased competition and vastly improved the service level to customers on our behalf. It lifted the freight game to new levels of expertise, as well as creating additional capacity.”
Lindmark has worked on narrow-body aircraft to wide-body B747s and freighters with 100-tonne capacity. “Aircraft cargo capabilities have changed dramatically since the first freighter aircraft I handled as a load planner. It was a DC-3 with a payload capacity of just 6500kgs, or a little more than the current LD7 pallet of 4500 kgs. The size and capabilities of today’s aircraft is simply mind-boggling, considering what it was like in the 1960s prior to the B747 and other wide-body aircraft.
Asked whether the industry had changed for the better over the years, Lindmark – who turns 70 this year – said: “The changes have not always been for the better. In the early years, people worked together much better.”
On much-needed industry improvements, he said there currently are not sufficient formal training opportunities for new entrants to learn the basics and understand the technical capabilities of aircraft. “Therefore, what is needed is additional formal training, including for Safety/DGR, and also understanding of rules and regulations of different countries and cultures.”
However, he rejected any suggestion that Australia was lagging behind in any world wide aspects of the air cargo industry: “Sure, it is not a large air freight market by world standards, but innovation, in particular finding ways to move perishable cargo such as crayfish, meat, fish and fruit to distant markets has been something that should be recognised, as it was a challenge at the time.
Lindmark joined MCH Aviation as chief executive officer in 2004 and was appointed a director of the company a year later. “In a very short time, MCH was established as a viable airline gsa and by the end of 2007 we had offices in all major Australian cities – ADL/BNE/MEL/PER/SYD – as well as AKL, with more than 30 employees.
“That growth has continued and we now represent 11 on and off line airlines,” added Lindmark who has been company chairman for the past three years.
If - and when - retirement becomes a reality, the MCH Aviation boss said he would miss the people and friends in the industry but would while away the hours walking on the beach with his partner. He will also visit family in Sweden.
Lindmark ‘is in excellent company’ as he readies to celebrate 50 years in air freight
airCargo #236 archive stories
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Another air freight industry stalwart will hit the half-century mark next month. And he’s not planning to throw in the towel just yet, writes John Newton.
Borje Lindmark follows in the footsteps of Wexco Aviation Services trio David Williams, Russell Freeman and former WA cargo manager Geoff Lord, who all notched up 50 years in the industry last year.
Now it’s the turn of MCH Aviation Holding chairman Lindmark, who achieves the milestone on 01 May. “I honestly don’t know how long I will continue. I still enjoy the different daily challenges – there’s never a dull moment,” he said.
After completing National Service in the Swedish military, Lindmark started his first job in the air cargo industry in May 1965, working as a cargo officer/load planner for Scandinavian Airlines in Stockholm. He later worked for a freight forwarder before moving to Australia in 1967.
On arrival in Sydney, he resumed his career in the freight forwarding industry, managing air export operations for Airborne Meadows there before transferring to Melbourne to manage its air freight import/export operations.
In 1970 – the year that Tullamarine airport opened - he began a long Australian career as a cargo reservations agent with Pan American Airways when he was one of only a handful of air cargo workers in Melbourne. “Then, there were only three main cargo carriers – Pan Am, Alitalia and Qantas – and there’s only one of them left now. “1970 was also the year when the first B747 transpacific services commenced, increasing the importance of air cargo as a substantial revenue earner. These included the first freighter operations from Australia to the US and Europe,” he said.
Lindmark remained with Pan Am for more than 15 years before moving to United Airlines which started services to Australia in 1986.
It was while he was with United that flower power became a big freight export story for the airline – and in particular for Lindmark, by then its Melbourne-based cargo manager cargo sales and operations.
The carrier had seen a strong demand for flower exports from Victoria to Los Angeles since the early 1990s when it was exporting around 100 boxes a year, each weighing 15-20 kgs. By 2006, this figure had shot up to 1000 boxes – the equivalent of a 20-tonne cargo payload on a B747. This achievement resulted in Lindmark being awarded United Pacific Division Sales Person of the Year.
According to Lindmark, the start up of operations in Melbourne by Menzies in the late 1990s sparked a major change in the air cargo industry at Tullamarine. “The move by Menzies to set up a purpose-built cargo building – at the time the only major expansion in Melbourne since 1970 – increased competition and vastly improved the service level to customers on our behalf. It lifted the freight game to new levels of expertise, as well as creating additional capacity.”
Lindmark has worked on narrow-body aircraft to wide-body B747s and freighters with 100-tonne capacity. “Aircraft cargo capabilities have changed dramatically since the first freighter aircraft I handled as a load planner. It was a DC-3 with a payload capacity of just 6500kgs, or a little more than the current LD7 pallet of 4500 kgs. The size and capabilities of today’s aircraft is simply mind-boggling, considering what it was like in the 1960s prior to the B747 and other wide-body aircraft.
Asked whether the industry had changed for the better over the years, Lindmark – who turns 70 this year – said: “The changes have not always been for the better. In the early years, people worked together much better.”
On much-needed industry improvements, he said there currently are not sufficient formal training opportunities for new entrants to learn the basics and understand the technical capabilities of aircraft. “Therefore, what is needed is additional formal training, including for Safety/DGR, and also understanding of rules and regulations of different countries and cultures.”
However, he rejected any suggestion that Australia was lagging behind in any world wide aspects of the air cargo industry: “Sure, it is not a large air freight market by world standards, but innovation, in particular finding ways to move perishable cargo such as crayfish, meat, fish and fruit to distant markets has been something that should be recognised, as it was a challenge at the time.
Lindmark joined MCH Aviation as chief executive officer in 2004 and was appointed a director of the company a year later. “In a very short time, MCH was established as a viable airline gsa and by the end of 2007 we had offices in all major Australian cities – ADL/BNE/MEL/PER/SYD – as well as AKL, with more than 30 employees.
“That growth has continued and we now represent 11 on and off line airlines,” added Lindmark who has been company chairman for the past three years.
If - and when - retirement becomes a reality, the MCH Aviation boss said he would miss the people and friends in the industry but would while away the hours walking on the beach with his partner. He will also visit family in Sweden.
After completing National Service in the Swedish military, Lindmark started his first job in the air cargo industry in May 1965, working as a cargo officer/load planner for Scandinavian Airlines in Stockholm. He later worked for a freight forwarder before moving to Australia in 1967.
