Evergreen International Airlines
Most of Evergreen’s commercial business is moving freight out of Asian markets to the US, and recently there has been a decent increase in the “back-haul” business out of the US to Asia. Evergreen is increasing its presence in Chicago and New York with freight going to Shanghai and Hong Kong, and also maintains a presence with Nagoya, Japan. Currently Evergreen is expanding its fleet to about 15 aircraft by retiring its older freighters and adding new, more efficient planes. “The problem with an airline meeting its requirements is that a 747 and its related peripherals is an enormous investment, so you have to know which way the market is going,” Dineen explains. “Just adding an additional crew requires a four-month lead time. So to add six full crews, which means 12 to 18 pilots, you need to get them through the pipeline. You have to level out the peaks and balance the opportunities that you may be leaving on the table with the fact that the peaks will go away and you’ll be left with some very expensive capital assets and payroll to meet.” Another major challenge is planning for the future. “A company that has been around as long as we have tends to become not exactly complacent, but we think we’re doing well where we are. What I’m pushing for right now is a lot more corporate introspection: what we’re doing and how we work together. Many of us have been here for upward of 30 years, so we bleed green. We’re dedicated, crossfunctional people, kind of a lean, family-like company.” Dineen notes that they always meet whatever challenges they face, but he wonders whether they’re getting the best out of their talent and motivation—are they using it as efficiently as they can? “Business environment analysis has to be continuous,” Dineen says, “and we need to look at a two-to-five-year range when we look at capital assets, as to which way the market’s going, where we want to penetrate and what kind of contracts we can pursue. We need to look at our strategic planning, then take it back in an introspective way to look at our near term, what I call tactical planning and structure. I should be able to go to anybody in the company and ask what that person thinks this airline will look like in two years, in five years. If I can’t get an answer, then I’m not doing my job as a leader. Everybody in the
Transport & logistics 153