The Association has announced that it will bestow its highest honour on Geoff Bridges, Stanley Hui Hon-Chung and Manfred Kiel.

Gary Bartek, Chairman of TIACA, said, 'The members of our Hall of Fame are all senior figures that have played an important role in helping to shape the air cargo industry and make it the dominant force that it is today in terms of world trade. Their contribution to our industry will go down in the history records and act as an inspiration to a whole new generation of industry leaders.'

Geoff Bridges, who sadly passed away in 2004, is elected into the TIACA 2006 Hall of Fame in recognition of his longstanding achievements, dedication and distinguished leadership. He was one of the most respected and knowledgeable executives the air cargo industry has ever produced.

During his career, Geoff Bridges spent six years as Managing Director Cargo of British Airways Cargo, leading the organization through one of the most successful periods in its history after cargo and mail activities were designated as a Strategic Business Enterprise within the airline, pioneering cargo as a separate business unit within the airline.

He joined Air Canada in 1989 to head up its Cargo division and helped to re-establish the airline as a world ranking cargo airline. In 1991, Air Canada achieved the world's fastest international growth.

In January 1993, Mr. Bridges took on a new challenge when he became General Director (CX) of the embryonic airline Air Russia and while serving as Chairman of Bridges Worldwide, he played a crucial statesman role in the development of the largest wholesale express network.

Geoff always retained his interest in the air cargo industry and played an active role in promoting and campaigning on its behalf, most notably as President of The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) from 1998-2000.

Manfred Kiel, Chairman of SAT Sea-Air Transport GmbH is being inducted into the TIACA 2006 Hall of Fame in recognition of his professional leadership and innovative development of sea-air transport, creating a cost-effective trade and transport link from Asia to Europe.

Mr. Kiel began his career as an apprentice with Schenker and later worked for Krupp in Essen, AEI, and later Alitalia. In the early 1970s, he joined Pracht, a leading German forwarding agent, and went on to become the company's Director of Airfreight Sales. Later, he served as Managing Director of Circle Freight International and Concorde in Germany.

In 1984, he founded his own company, S.A.T. Sea-Air Transport GmbH, in D'sseldorf, a specialist in multi-modal sea-air combined transport. The concept offered a carrier service which mixed the two modes of transport as one product. Within a year, the company rose to number one in combined sea-air transport. Together with his associates Peter Knopf and Issa Baluch (Chairman and CEO of Swift Freight International), they built up the sea-air combined transport business via Dubai and have maintained the number one position over the last 15 years.

Manfred Kiel's dedication has brought great benefits to regional economies, airlines, airports, seaports, forwarders, and importers.

Stanley Hui Hon-Chung is being inducted into of Fame in recognition of his foresight and professional leadership in building a successful freighter service in a very short time. His achievements have contributed greatly to the current rise in China's trade globally.

Mr. Hui joined Dragonair as Chief Executive Officer in February 1997 and has overseen its growth and development into an international, award-winning airline with a growing presence in the all-cargo arena. Dragonair's network of freighter services currently spans half the globe and since he became CEO, the airline has tripled its fleet size.

When Boeing announced its freighter conversion program for B747-400s in 2003, Dragonair seized the opportunity and announced its decision to acqui