Space for local heroes
Laurent Le Baler has been in the air cargo business for 20 years. Now he is the managing director in charge of operations at Airnautic, a company founded by his father Denis Le Baler in 1984. ITJ staff writer Andreas Haug paid him a visit in Paris.
Visitors to the Airnautic office in the WFS handling company’s complex at Charles de Gaulle airport are greeted by aircraft models and posters revealing that Airnautic is a specialist for services to and from Africa. “Six weeks before the civil war broke out in Libya, I was visiting our customer, Afriqiyah Airways, in Tripoli; the government had big plans for them then,” reports Laurent Le Baler.
Now, although demand from Libya is beginning to bounce back, especially for pharmaceutical products, Airnautic’s business as a GSA stretches from the Middle East to Oceania. The firm has been an agent for Air New Zealand for the past 20 years and served Uzbekistan Airways for 15. For Etihad Airways, the UAE’s national carrier, it has 13 years under its belt, and six for Jet Airways, from India. “Our partnership with AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), which recently launched its fifth weekly freighter flight between Paris and Moscow, and which also flies to the Far East from there, has just celebrated its tenth anniversary,” Le Baler adds.
Two customers in the top ten
In 2018 Airnautic set a new company record, with more than 40,000 t of cargo carried on flights operating on the six routes it serves. Two of the companies that use its services were among the nationwide industry leaders in France, namely ABC at No. 5 and Etihad at 10. “Not bad for a company that operates totally independently,” says Le Baler. “It just goes to show that there is room for modestly-sized providers in airfreight, who are ready to put their heart and soul into looking after their customers’ requirements.”
Airnautic is active in two distinct segments of the market. The GSA business is operated from five locations throughout France. The Saint-Louis headquarters near Basel Mulhouse airport, founded by current CEO Denis Le Baler, was followed 25 years ago by an office in Lyon and, in the year 2000, by the Paris CDG office, which his son expanded from two to its present twelve employees.
“Our employees – be they product managers, customer service officers, administrative service provider or operational staff – treat every airline as if it were a part of our own firm,” explains Laurent Le Baler, who simultaneously pointed out the advantages of flexibility that come with acting as a GSA.
Airnautic’s other French offices, in Nantes and Marseille, serve as points of contact for regional freight forwarders and shippers. Outside France, Airnautic SAS, with its Swiss namesake Airnautic AG, is also active in Italy (Milan Malpensa and Venice airports). On its own initiative, the French firm is now also building a presence in Spain (Madrid and Barcelona).
The next expansion into the Iberian Peninsula is in the offing, as Le Baler is currently sizing up applications he has received for a new office in Lisbon. If things go well and this niche market is popular, another subsequent expansion to Porto is also conceivable.
Small prices, big projects
Business is good, but according to the managing director it has become more and more difficult over the past four to five years to predict the situation even just in Paris, never mind across France, Europe, or the globe. “My impression is that Europeans used to have the prerogative of deciding on costs and airlines. Today, the recipient in India or China actually has the final word.” And for them, lower price counts more than higher quality.
Airnautic has been able to respond to the increasingly competitive situation thanks to its many years of expertise and through its innovative strength. Le Baler is also monitoring and taking part in the trend towards transporting goods with higher margins, including pharmaceutical products. Parisian airports, surrounded by many laboratories, after all, have lost a large share of their customers to gateways in the Benelux countries and Germany of late. Airnautic expects business to take a turn for the better when WFS opens its pharmaceutical logistics warehouse in Paris in the second half of this year.
Airnautic also focuses on a second market, namely the charter business. Although large and spectacular transports of industrial equipment from Europe are still taking place, the firm has created a unique selling point by specialising in sensitive shipments. The company is officially certified and has employees with the training to handle dangerous goods and explosive items. “Such projects,” says Le Baler, “often require a lead time of up to one month.” Air cargo heroes need plenty of staying power.