Senior air cargo industry executives from 74 countries participated in The International Air Cargo Association's (TIACA) 2006 Air Cargo Forum in Calgary, Canada, this month, to meet customers, prospects and business colleagues and to debate 'The Impact of the Air Cargo Industry on the Global Economy.'

In total, 2,200 people took part in the biennial conference and exhibition with nearly 600 of the visitors registered as presidents, CEOs, chairmen, vice presidents and directors of many of the industry's biggest organizations.

ACF 2006 attracted a record number of forum delegates with 859 executives participating in a series of four lively, debates; airline cargo CEOs look at market access, the impact of air cargo on the global economy, a shipper perspective of air cargo services available in some of the world's fastest-growing markets, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, and what must the air cargo industry do to finally achieve paperless cargo processing.

The forum attracted a host of top speakers, including airline CEOs, government officials, economists, the World Bank, forwarding associations, technology providers and major shippers.

The exhibition hall contained 7,000 square meters of stands. The 227 exhibitors represented airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers, cargo GSAs, ground handling organizations, trucking companies, technology providers, forwarders, charter brokers, equipment suppliers, educational institutes and the media.

Commenting on the event, Gary Bartek, Chairman of TIACA, stated, 'On behalf of TIACA, I wish to thank Calgary for being such an excellent host of ACF 2006. The facilities provided for both the conference and exhibition were ideal for an event of this size and ensured everything was close at hand for our exhibitors, conference delegates and other visitors. We have also received great feedback from exhibitors and conference delegates regarding the high caliber of attendees at the event.

'The level of support from our sponsors and the industry-at-large for ACF 2006 was tremendous given the turbulent economic times many businesses have been going through and the financial challenges to companies as a result of rising security levels and fuel costs. Our task now is to reflect on the positives from this event, the things we learned from talking to exhibitors and delegates and to look at further ideas to improve TIACA's next forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2008.'