Earlier this year, Mercury Air Cargo entered into a joint venture with a group of retired airline executives to establish a CGSA company called GSA Force, LLC. The new venture is an affiliate of the Mercury family and three of its founding partners – Joe Czyzyk, Felipe Kaplan, and Maximiliano Vicente - are longtime veterans of Mercury Air Group.

This new venture came about when the founders noticed there was a trend happening in the GSA industry: big companies were acquiring most of the GSAs. “When we realized that the big groups were buying these companies, we saw that there was an opportunity to create a new niche GSA business,” said founding partner Felipe Kaplan. “Instead of becoming a big GSA company, we would be more tailor-made and dedicated to big airlines.”

The first airline they approached was Cathay Pacific, one of the largest airlines in Asia.  “They are a company that has a very big operation in Asia,  Europe and the U.S. but they didn't have any presence in Latin America,” Kaplan said. They approached the airline to offer their services, and the airline agreed to give them their representation in Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador.

Kaplan said the GSA Force team is unique in how it operates, and it is exactly what many airlines need in today’s markets. “We are a very professional team, who is very focused on the airline's needs, and understands the trends of the airline and the way that they operate,” he said.

“Our expertise is the way we are connecting different networks,” Kaplan said. “and the way that we manage that connection is the difference.”

By connecting the Cathay Pacific network with all of the airlines that are operating in Latin America, “we built a product for them, and for their customers,” Kaplan said.

On September 1, GSA Force added LATAM Airlines, formerly, Lan Chile Airlines to its portfolio of clients, representing them in Hong Kong.  

“After two months of operations, we have increased the average LATAM business in the region by approximately 40%, and we expect to double this tonnage during 2017,” said Claudio Silva, a GSA Force partner.

Abiding by the same principles of possessing a deep knowledge of the market and maintaining the partners’ involvement in the business,  we are creating confidence in the product we represent, he said. This allows us to offer our customers more alternatives to connect Asia to Latin America with innovative solutions, connecting the networks of airlines we represent, Silva said.  

As a result, “we have become the leading GSA in Hong Kong to the Latin American market,” he said.  

The customers – that is, the airlines – “they're happy because we are using their network, in the way that they need,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan explained that being a good general sales agency is more than being a sales representative, understanding the needs of the airline, the network and all of the requirements involved are critical to solving real problems. He pointed out that involvement in the process is also important to the company’s founders. Hence, when an airline contacts GSA Force, they deal directly with the partners, who have more than 75 years of combined experience in the cargo airline industry, instead of being delegated out.. This personal attention, Kaplan said, is also what sets GSA Force apart.

 “The airlines need a more focused GSA with local knowledge and a global network,” he said. “We know the people, we know the airlines, we know the day to day. But at the same time, we have a global network, and the connection between local experience and local knowledge, and a global network, is what we think the airlines need today,” Kaplan said.