McCool and son look back on 20 years' building IAM

IRELAND's largest airline cargo general sales agent (GSSA), IAM, celebrates its 20th birthday from an original team of three to a successful aviation services group with a market share of 20 per cent of the country's export airfreight traffic.

IAM represents 13 airlines, and still counts its original launch customer Air Canada among its client carriers with recent key initiatives of road transportation, road transportation (ITC Trucking) and air cargo handling (ITCHandling) arms, respectively launched in 1995 and 2005.

Ian McCool, managing director and son of company founder and chairman Sean McCool said, IAM's success has been in helping airlines to offer a competitive, viable, high-quality service to key destinations worldwide, by eliminating the potential delays and difficulties in linking with flights departing from the UK and Europe.

ITC Trucking has further expanded operations to include non-air cargo movements between key Irish airports and London Heathrow and Manchester airports in the UK. In 2002, the company also established Translogic, a specialist aviation security training business, now the market leader in Dangerous Goods training in Ireland. This diversification has proven vital in widening IAM's market, so insulating it against the recent dramatic shrinkage in Ireland's export airfreight market.

Said Mr McCool Jr: These initiatives have opened up a lucrative new market for airlines, enabled Irish business to compete more effectively on the international stage, and in turn have increased client airline cargo volumes and even influenced Irish employment levels.

Diversification has helped to expand Irish export trade and although trade has slowed Mr McCool added, he is confident it will rebound and IAM will be ready for it.

IAM's headquarters are located in modern offices near Dublin's trendy Smithfield Market and legal district - its fourth home since the early days in downtown Dublin. Its airport offices are also located within service partners' facilities in Dublin, Shannon, Cork, Belfast and London Heathrow, England.

Source: Schednet