TIACA wants to work with shippers. (The International Air Cargo Association)

Competition from integrators forces change in approach from "operator-driven" to "customer-driven."

LONDON

The air-cargo industry has often been accused of paying more attention to its own problems than to those of customers.

But now the industry is changing, and shippers who rely on services provided by forwarders and airlines have suddenly found themselves the focus of unaccustomed attention.

Everyone, it seems, now is interested in what shippers have to say.

"My perception is that the industry has so far been operator-driven rather than customer-driven, but I think that is changing," said W.R. Christopher Foyle, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of TIACA, the International Air Cargo Association.

"There's much more abrasive activity going on to try and address this, and TIACA is trying to play a role in that, to be a catalyst," he said.

TIACA, which calls itself "the only multi-discipline inter-professional international air cargo association," is one of several industry groups …