Sandhurst graduate, ex-Swissport exec now head of air freight at Woodland

THE Woodland Group, an international logistics provider based in the UK, has appointed Paul Arnold as head of air freight at Woodland Global.

Mr Arnold has already taken up the position and is tasked with developing routes to North America and exploring opportunities in Asia and other developing markets. He is based at Woodland's air cargo centre at Hayes, Middlesex.

"I am excited about the future and appreciate the management style of a company where business heads are given accountability and responsibility to move the business forward," said Mr Arnold.

Mr Arnold was educated at St John's School, Singapore and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He began his civilian career in 1991 at London Heathrow, where he worked as cargo handling manager for KLM. Rejoining the KLM group in 1998, he became managing director for Cargo Service Centre (CSC), Germany, a third party air cargo handling operation.

He later became managing director of Swissport Cargo Services UK, and then CEO of Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal management of India, responsible for modernising India's largest air cargo terminal. Before joining Woodland, He worked for SKA Group as chief technical officer. He was based in Dubai but worked on operations in Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.

Earlier this year, Woodland won the air freight prize at the British International Freight Association's (BIFA) Freight Services Awards for its dedicated management plan which resulted in air freight volumes increasing by 300 per cent in 12 months.

The plan involved streamlining the number of air carriers used in order to secure more competitive rates, targeting dense matter such as printed material and introducing a new account management structure. New markets were added to the company's air freight portfolio, offering services to and from India, Brazil and China.