Name: Wilson Kwong
Job Title: Chief Executive
Company: Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl)
Location: SuperTerminal 1, Hong Kong International Airport
Years of Experience in Ground Support: 12
Years with Current Company: 5
Previous Employers in the Industry: Jardine Aviation Services (7 years)
Industry committees, associations, working groups served on:
HKSAR Government Hong Kong Logistics Development Council, Member (2022– Present)
HKSAR Government Tripartite Taskforce on Manpower Training (Aviation), Member (2020- Present)
Hong Kong International Aviation Academy, Steering Committee Member (2019 – Present)
Shipping and Transport Committee of Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Vice Chairman (2022 – Present)
Hong Kong Trade Development Council Logistics Services Advisory Committee, Member (2023- Present)
Asian Institute of Supply Chains & Logistics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Advisory Board Member (2021 – Present)
Ground Support Worldwide: What attracted you to a career in the ground support industry?
Wilson Kwong: Like many people in the industry, I arrived by accident, but have stayed by design. I joined Jardine Matheson in 1998 and worked around its diverse group of companies. The first was Jardine Aviation, where I learned all about the aviation business and the specifics of passenger and ramp handling. After leaving that company, I went on to work for Hongkong Land and then Jardine Engineering, where I rose to senior board-level management and enjoyed overseas postings. It was in 2018 that I returned to aviation as the new chief executive of Hactl.
GSW: What has kept you engaged in the industry?
WK: I love everything about my work. Air cargo is such a fast-paced industry, with new situations and challenges almost daily. You get a real feeling of doing something worthwhile and making a difference: this was particularly true during the early days of COVID, where the frontline work my team was doing was literally helping to save lives and keeping the world’s supply chains functioning.
I also count myself really lucky to have inherited the stewardship of this amazing, leading-edge company where my shareholders are so supportive of our efforts to innovate and lead. And, although I am told the industry is less social than it once was, I still find the camaraderie – even among commercial rivals – really special. The air cargo industry is like a big global family that always makes you feel welcome when you are traveling around the world, as I frequently do. Our customers are friendly and also inspiring in what they have achieved through these difficult past few years. And my own staff are amazing: their effort and dedication are beyond words, and make me so proud. All in all, I cannot imagine a more exciting, rewarding industry than this, and I can’t imagine a better company to work for. I am truly fortunate.
GSW: What’s the best advice you’ve been given while working in this field?
WK: I greatly admired and liked my predecessor Mark Whitehead, I knew him well and worked with him for many years even before I joined Hactl; he sadly passed away shortly after retiring, and I still miss him. He did not so much give me direct advice, as set many great examples, which I try hard to follow: always to aim for the highest work standards possible, always to take special care of your staff, never to be defeated by adversity and always to be the perfect host. He was a very hard act to follow, but I hope I have proven a worthy successor, have built on the strong foundations he laid, and that he is looking down and smiling.
GSW: How have you seen the ground support industry change the most during your career? Has this change(s) been to the benefit or detriment of the industry?
WK: Ours is an industry that is constantly subject to more and more standards and measurements, but that’s a good thing. The IATA CEIV accreditation family is bringing welcome uniformity and higher standards to our business, and that can only be beneficial in an industry where supply chains involve multiple providers and are therefore only as strong as their weakest link. Digitization of what were once paper-based processes is also now gaining critical mass, and that will help us to secure and grow our role in global e-commerce. I think global appreciation of the vital role of air cargo has grown immeasurably as a result of COVID. It’s just a shame that, after a brief period of good returns in the industry, over-capacity and competition are once again eroding freight rates and adversely impacting the revenues that should be available to plough back into future development.
GSW: What’s the next big thing coming to the ground support industry? What type of an impact will it make?
WK: Automation is nothing new at Hactl, but there is still scope for its further use across our industry. This is not about cutting labor, but about finding a way to counteract the mounting challenge of recruitment to this industry: doing more with less, if you like. For Hactl, the next step is robotics. We already have various projects running (security, sanitization, maintenance parts dispensing) but the game-changers will be driverless ramp vehicles and forklifts. Beyond that, we are looking at the use of machine learning and AI to assist in the highly-skilled and very labor-intensive task of pallet building. All these measures will help us to meet growing demand without relying so much on our ability to grow our workforce.
GSW: What would you say to encourage someone to join the ground support industry?
WK: Working in ground support these days is a career. Employers are generally larger after so much consolidation in recent years, and can offer better training, conditions and advancement. And it’s a fast-paced, exciting environment where no two days are the same. My best work years have been in ground support. As the saying goes: “If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.”
