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Contact:
Don Hanson |
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Contact:
Don Hanson |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
97-108
PHOENIX, Ariz., May 13, 1997 -- Airline cargo managers and other air freight industry leaders are gathering in Phoenix for an Air Cargo Conference tomorrow and Thursday focused on issues of accommodating rapidly expanding air freight traffic.
The program includes expert speakers on air cargo related issues representing operators, industry suppliers and aircraft manufacturers. The meeting is the third annual cargo symposium sponsored by the Douglas Aircraft Co. division of McDonnell Douglas (NYSE: MD).
Phoenix Mayor Skip Rimsza is scheduled to welcome the symposium attendees at the Arizona Biltmore Wednesday morning. The keynote address will be presented by George Field, vice president and general manager of the Douglas product support division.
Lee Hibbets, associate editor of the "Cargo Facts" newsletter, will present an analysis of cargo market dynamics. Studies show world air freight traffic growing faster than passenger service, at an annual rate of more than seven percent.
Experience with MD-11 and DC-10 freighters will be told by Terry Nord, Federal Express vice president-base maintenance, and Bill Stockbridge, president of Gemini Air Cargo.
The meeting also will focus on the conversion of large passenger airliners to freighters, and operator experience with converted aircraft. McDonnell Douglas speakers will make presentations on cargo variants of the MD-11 and DC-10, conversion of DC-10s to advanced MD-10 freighters, and the proposed MD-17 commercial model of the C-17 military transport. There also will be a presentation on design studies of possible cargo conversions of MD-80 twin jets.
On Thursday, attendees will tour the Dimension Aviation facility at Goodyear, Ariz., where McDonnell Douglas DC-10 trijets are being converted to all-cargo planes under a contract between McDonnell Douglas and Federal Express.
Aeronavali, a member of the Alenia group of companies in Italy that also is doing DC-10 freighter conversions, will be honored for its 50 years in the industry at a Wednesday night banquet celebration.
More than 150 participants from the United States, Europe and Asia are expected to attend the conference.