Editor’s Comments

Oct. 1, 2000
Features

Editor’s Comments

By Richard Rowe

October 2000

As the new Editor of GSE Today, I would like to introduce myself and welcome you to an exciting new period in the development of the magazine.

First things first. You may be wondering who this upstart Englishman is coming to take over the Editor’s chair at a ground support industry bible like GSE Today. With luck, my experience editing two international airport and ground handling related magazines in the UK will stand me in good stead and help me to get to grips with an industry that GSE Today has made its own since it was first published back in March 1993.

The competition in this business is such that magazine publishing can be a little like swimming with sharks. However, GSE Today has survived and prospered by positioning itself--with your help--as very much part of the industry. Those in ground support circles consider the magazine an industry partner rather than just another publication dipping its toes in to see if there is money to be made.

GSE Today has come a long way already, but the momentum must be maintained if we are to genuinely keep up with the industry and continue to serve it in the way it deserves.

We hope to achieve this in several ways. Next year, the magazine will jump to 10 issues a year. Currently, we lack space rather than stories, so this is an obvious first step. We also need to look at perception. Fairly or unfairly, the magazine is still not deemed to be as international as its front cover tag line suggests. As a European, I hope to be able to use my contacts overseas to help add to the multicultural mix of the magazine and draw it further into the collective consciousness of the international ground support community.

Our growing team of international correspondents will continue to scour the globe digging up the stories and initiatives that will help you conduct business better, smarter and faster. There is no getting away from the fact that, as a U.S.-based publication, we are very much embroiled in the comings and goings of the most powerful aviation market in the world. We make no apologies for that. However, that said, we should certainly not lose sight of what is happening elsewhere in the world and, if we do, you may call me personally to vent your spleen.

The magazine’s content will also broaden slightly, albeit without losing any of its focus. In addition to the magazine’s in-depth articles about the equipment and manufacturers that are making the news, GSE Today will also keep close tabs on the army of specialist ground service providers that are now high profile players in their own right. The ground handling community is helping to raise the bar in terms of ground support quality and service. Handlers large and small have become as important customers for GSE manufacturers as the airlines themselves.

Next, expect a redesign of GSE Today for 2001. The magazine will receive a makeover that will, hopefully, improve its look without losing any of its character. GSE Today will never become a coffee table style magazine, exuding style over substance. What it will be is a magazine full of informative, well-written articles that continue to add to the knowledge base of the industry.

Finally, as has already been mentioned in these pages, we will be moving offices towards the end of the year to the metropolis that is Las Cruces, New Mexico--new offices that will help transform how we do business and collect information. The benefits will be passed on to our readers and advertisers in the form of a sharper, even more focussed industry publication.

So, all of our cards are now on the table. Well, almost. After all, my coming on board frees up many of my new colleagues to develop other projects. And they are not short of ideas.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this rather chunky October issue. I’m told that it is the largest non-directory issue of the magazine to date. It has been something of a baptism by fire editing the issue, but has been a perfect introduction.

I now very much look forward to working with you--starting with our very own GSE Expo in Las Vegas--and to further strengthening the partnership between GSE Today and the ground support industry it has served so well in the past.