Customers come first - Swissport · International customer journal Customers come first Swissport...

LOW-COST CARRIERS

RYANAIR PREDICTS CHANGENo-frills carriers have transformed theEuropean air transport industry, butmarket leader Ryanair predicts massivechange on the horizon. The Irish carrieris convinced that only low-cost lead-ership will succeed in today’s price-driven market. 6 – 7

SERVICE FEEDBACK

GROUND OPERATIONS

A380 COUNTDOWNWith the passenger version of theA380 due into service in 2006,ground support equipment prepara-tions are in full swing. But what will itmean for ground handling fleet inven-tories?

20–21

CUSTOMER SURVEYWhat does the industry think of Swiss-port and its products and services? It was our desire to find answers tothese questions and more that prompt-ed us to conduct a comprehensivecustomer survey – the results of whichcan be found here. 18–19

When it comes down to it, there is reallyonly one question a company needs toask itself: have we met the wishes andneeds of our customers as well as wepossibly can?

And if you are in the service business, thequestion is more crucial than ever.That iswhy Swissport always keeps a finger onthe pulse of its activities to ensure that wedo not just meet our customers’ expecta-tions, we exceed them.

Our daily dealings with airlines and pas-sengers give us a constant opportunity toreassess our service philosophy andadapt if needed in the light of feedbackreceived. The comments we get – espe-cially the constructive criticism that canderive from irregularities – are an excel-lent opportunity to turn the spotlightsquarely on customers and their require-ments. This can only happen, of course,if we are open and willing to learn.

And we intend to listen to our cus-tomers even more attentively and usetheir expectations to set our own cor-porate pace.

We took the first steps in this processa short time ago with our global cus-

tomer survey in which we asked morethan 1,500 business partners for theirviews on our group and services. I ampleased to report that over 31% ofcustomers contacted took advantageof this opportunity. We are trulygrateful for this feedback and will beapplying the findings, wishes andcomments expressed to our strategyand operations over the comingweeks and months. You will find asummary of the survey’s initial resultsin this issue.

The customer focus phenomenon is allaround us, of course. How could the so-called no-frills airlines have madesuch inroads into the world of the net-work carriers if they had not alignedtheir low-fare-but-tighter-restrictionsproduct precisely to customer and mar-ket needs?

And even these low-cost airlines can-not afford to relax – they must con-tinue to take the temperature of theircustomers. Brand loyalty is on thedecline; products are becoming in-creasingly interchangeable; innova-tions are appearing all the time; andpassengers change their travel andbooking habits, too.

Our no-frills airline report shows justhow fast things are changing and howvital it is to remain on the ball.

And how, in concrete terms, can ourcustomers tell that Swissport is becom-ing even more customer-focused thanbefore? With our new “Freight Finder”product, for example, which gives thecargo sector a new tracking and tracingtool; with the opening of Swissport Sin-gapore, which will give our customers a strong ground handling partner inAsia; with the way we have substan-tially strengthened our key accountmanagement organisation;and, last butnot least, with websites that are moreuser-friendly.

All these actions – indeed, all our ende-avours – are aimed at one prime objec-tive: aligning our services as closely aspossible with customers’ individualneeds and providing the best possibleground handling product.

It is a never-ending effort, but one wewill never tire of making.

Stephan Beerli

ASIAN EXPANSION

SINGAPORE SWINGSSwissport’s recent success in securingthe third ground handling licence atSingapore Changi Airport marks afirst major step into the Asia Pacificmarket. It also provides an excellentplatform from which to pursue addi-tional opportunities in the region.

2–3

International customer journal

Customers come first

Swissport International Ltd., Issue 14, October 2004

ground handler to provide extra choicefor the airlines that operate at Changi,”explains Yam Kum Weng, Director,Airport Management.“We believe theincreased competition will result ineven better ground handling servicesand lower costs for airlines.”

In addition, CAAS has also restruc-tured the ground handling franchisefees paid by each handler. “This re-structuring will translate into ap-proximately S$10 million in savingsper year for the ground handlers andwe hope they pass on the savings totheir airline clients,” comments Yam.

Challenging marketWhile many ground handlers express-ed initial interest in the Changi licence,Swissport was one of only two to actu-ally submit a bid.Kohl attributes this toChangi being such a challenging mar-ket. “Existing players already providegood quality handling, while they also

have strong customer ties through air-line shareholdings, reciprocity deals andcodeshare agreements,” he explains.

At first glance, there does not seemroom for a third player, but Changiexecutives have done their home-work, visiting airports around theworld to analyse their business models.“Our studies indicate that the markethere is sufficient to support and sus-tain three players,” says Yam.

2 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ October 2004

N E T W O R K D E V E L O P M E N T

Swissport swings into Singapore

S H A P E O F T H I N G S T O C O M E

While important in its own right, entry into the market at SingaporeChangi gives Swissport the opportunity to penetrate other airports in theregion in a way that could not be achieved from a less prominent airport.

As such, Peter Kohl and his team are busy establishing a dedicated regionaloffice in Singapore from where they will continue the business develop-ment work previously conducted remotely from Zürich.

“There are many projects in the region at the moment,” says Kohl pointing to possible opportunities in China, Indonesia, Malaysia andKorea. “Now that we are actually based in the region, we can really speedup the process.”

In most countries, Swissport will aim for major gateways, although there are exceptions, such as China, where Kohl will also target second tier air-ports that hold significant development potential.

“Until recently, ground handlers have experienced a hard time gettingestablished in Asia,” he says. “Now, however, the timing is better and we are in a good position with our new operation at Changi. As a rule, muchof what happens at Changi tends to radiate around the region.”

will become our homebase in Asiaand we will open our regional officethere to be closer to developments inthe Asian market,” he explains.“Together with our recently openedrepresentation in Shanghai, we arenow well positioned for the opportu-nities in this exciting part of theworld.”

Peter Kohl, Swissport Business De-velopment Manager on the project,agrees.“The overall quality of the work-force and service is high at Changi andthe airport will become our flagshipstation in the region,” he says.

CAAS’s decision to open its groundhandling market is a demonstrationof how even the region’s most quality-oriented airports are showing greaterwillingness to revisit the structure oftheir handling operations. In the caseof Changi, the move is part of a widerdrive to maintain the airport’s competi-

tive position in the region. Airportexecutives are acutely aware of grow-ing competition not only from estab-lished gateways,but also new airports inChina,Thailand and elsewhere.

As such, the airport has made costcompetitiveness a key goal, with theintroduction of additional handlingcompetition seen as a further tool forimproving the airport’s overall attrac-tiveness. “We have introduced a third

Singapore is one of the most vibrant and dynamic destinations in Asia.

Swissport’s recent success in secur-ing the third ground handlinglicence at Singapore Changi Air-port marks a first major step intothe Asia Pacific market. It also pro-vides an excellent platform fromwhich to pursue additional oppor-tunities in the region.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singa-pore’s (CAAS) decision to awardSwissport the third ground handlinglicence at Singapore Changi Airportis a landmark development for bothparties. For Changi, it represents thefirst significant opening up of itsground handling market in 20 years,while, for Swissport, the decision ful-fils a long-held wish to add a keyAsian gateway airport to its growingglobal network.

Swissport has secured a 10-year, re-newable licence to provide a fullrange of services, including ramp,passenger and cargo handling at theairport.Although the licence does notofficially commence until 1 July 2005,CAAS has given Swissport the greenlight to start earlier.When operationsget underway, Swissport will competefor market share with two establishedincumbents.

Dr Ludwig Bertsch,Swissport’s Execu-tive Vice President for the DivisionAsia,Africa and Middle East, sees theSingapore operation as an outstand-ing launch pad for future develop-ments within the region. “Singapore

“Singapore will become our homebase in Asia.”

Dr Ludwig Bertsch

Swissport was chosen after each bidwas evaluated based on qualitativecriteria such as experience,track recordand the overall vision and business planfor any future operation. “We believeSwissport can add value to Changi’sground handling services and furtherstrengthen our position as an air hub,”comments Yam.

Kohl is equally convinced that Swiss-port can bring something different tothe table, although he concedes thatChangi represents a very differentchallenge from other start-ups. “Thequality is already here, so the key is to maintain that high quality while atthe same time bringing costs downand focusing on those client needsthat have been largely overlooked bythe incumbent handlers.”

Success, he suggests, will hinge onSwissport’s ability to bring a fresh ap-proach to what is a rapidly changingmarket place in Singapore.“The chal-lenge for the incumbent players is toadapt to a new environment, whereaswe can actually drive that new envi-ronment,” says Kohl. As such, Swiss-port’s strategy is to provide more thana one-size-fits-all handling solution –“the goal is not just to offer highquality, but more flexibility and cus-tomer dedication”.

Getting startedNow that the initial excitement of thelicence award has subsided, the hardwork has begun. Kohl is heading upan initial project team that trans-ferred to Singapore in September.The team will launch the new station

and gradually hand over to a localmanagement team once the opera-tion is up and running.

Kohl says the CAAS is already work-ing closely with Swissport to facilitatean early start up, although with cargoterminal infrastructure not expected tobe ready until the fourth quarter of2005, Swissport will begin initially witha passenger and ramp operation. De-

pending on the decision of potentialcustomers, such an operation couldbegin as early as December this year.

Kohl believes the timing of Swiss-port’s entry is good: Singapore’s eco-nomic and business outlook is posi-tive,passenger and freight traffic is upand there are plans to increase air-port capacity in view of expectedfuture growth.

The airport is also at the centre ofexplosive growth in low-cost carrieractivity in the region – a sector thatSwissport has successfully exploitedelsewhere – and is building a dedicat-ed terminal to handle such opera-tions.

“Because we can start with a cost-effective structure from the verybeginning, we will be able to offerattractive contract terms to suchcarriers,” says Kohl.

Kohl suggests the capture of a 4–5%market share in year one would be

The Swissport customer journal ■ October 2004 – Swissreporter 3

N E T W O R K D E V E L O P M E N T

C H A N G I FA S T F I G U R E S

■ Singapore Changi’s 70 carriers connect the airport with 162 destinationsin 52 countries

■ In 2003, Changi handled 29 million passengers and 1.6 million tonnes of freight

■ Passenger numbers for the January to July 2004 period reached 17.08 million, up 33.9% on the same period last year

■ Similarly,January to July airfreight traffic is up 11.8% on the same periodin 2003.

“We believe Swissport can further strengthen our position

as an air hub.”Yam Kum Weng

Singapore Changi is consistently regarded as one of the most progressive and service-oriented airports in the world (photos: CAAS).

P E T E R K O H L

“The goal is not just to offer highquality, but more flexibility and cus-tomer dedication.”

C O N TA C T

Swissport Singapore Pte. Ltd.Unit 041–60B–01,Terminal,Changi,Airport, P. O. Box 105Singapore 919144Phone ++ 656 542 8665Mobile ++ 659 826 8286Fax ++ 656 542 [email protected]

a reasonable expectation, rising to8–10% in years two and three.“In themedium term, we have no interest inbeing a niche player and will worktowards a level playing field in thecontestable market,” he says.

Richard Rowe


Having taken over the completewarehouse handling for UnitedCargo at eight of its most import-ant US locations last year, Swiss-port Cargo Services is now makinggood on its commitment to cutcosts and improve cargo flows.

This time last year, Swissport CargoServices (SCS) had just transitionedthe eighth and final station in aprocess that had seen it take over75% of United Cargo’s domesticwarehouse handling – or roughly450,000 tonnes per year.

A process that began with Denver onJuly 13 ended with San Francisco onSeptember 13. In between came New-ark, LaGuardia, Washington Dulles,Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago.

One year on, the speed, size and com-plexity of the transition remainsunmatched in the industry.

Of the more than 50 warehouses out-sourced, SCS was awarded just eight– however, five were major hubs andthe other three also of significant size.From day one, the main task was tounify service levels and reduce UnitedCargo’s overall cost of doing business.

The process threw up considerablechallenges, not least the hiring andtraining of up to 900 staff across theeight stations.

And although the Swissport grouphas vast experience in handling majorcarriers this was the first time that ithad been exposed to such a large hub

operation. At Chicago O’Hare, forinstance – United’s largest station –the carrier operates 500 flights perday using a variety of aircraft. Assuch, SCS had to think like an airline,but operate with the flexibility of ahandler.

The initial focus was on adoptingUnited Cargo’s existing systems andprocesses while at the same timeadapting to the sheer volume andvariety of cargo passing through eachwarehouse. New security regulations,such as the US Postal Service’srequirement for all mail to bescanned, also had to be implemented.

“It was about constant design andredesign of flows as we absorbedhuge amounts of information," ex-

plains Steve Tamm, VP - Cargo, TheAmericas, SCS. “There have beenbumps in the road, but it must beremembered that no other carrier hasdone anything like this before.”

While there is still much work to bedone, the signs are that SCS is on theright track in many of the customerservice and operational areas moni-tored as part of United Cargo’s inter-nal Cargo Performance Index.

SCS has performed well in customer-focussed areas measured, such as‘Boarded as Booked’, ‘Transferred asBooked’ and ‘Ready for Pickup’.And, according to recent measure-ments, post-outsourced quality sur-passes that of pre-outsourcing days byas much as 15 basis points.

Feedback from United Cargo’s custo-mers is equally encouraging. “Theyknow we are proactive when solvingany operational or customer serviceissues that occur,” reports Tamm. Ma-nagers are visible,accessible and com-munication is good, he adds. SCS hasalso appointed a highly experiencedKey Account Manager,Joanne Lavigne,who now dedicates her time to work-ing specifically with United Cargo.

Earlier this year, SCS was asked toparticipate in United’s Cargo Opera-tions Process Redesign (COPPER)programme – an internal initiativethat brought together SCS, customersand airline operations to identify andimplement best practice.

“COPPER is the cornerstone of ourprocess-improvement initiative and isthe first example of how United andSwissport will work together toimprove reliability and the overallexperience the customer has withUnited Cargo,” explains Neel Shah,Vice President of Sales and Market-ing, United Cargo.

Dr Ludwig Bertsch, Swissport’s EVPresponsible for the global cargo pro-duct, believes the work has provedthat even a large carrier can out-source successfully. “Scott Dolan,United Cargo’s new President, wasrecently quoted as saying that the fulloutsourcing will save around $100million annually,” explains Bertsch.

O U T S O U R C I N G

A year of progress

No other carrier has done anythinglike this before.

“This is a huge saving and will cer-tainly help strengthen United Cargo’scompetitive position.”

As Bertsch points out, Scott Dolanhas huge ambitions for United Cargoand aims for nothing less than beingbest in class. “We are aware that thisalso means a huge challenge for us, asour performance will be a corner-stone of the carrier’s success,”he says.

Bertsch acknowledges that in an out-sourcing project of this magnitude,it is necessary to go through a learn-ing curve before the agreed perfor-mance is reached. “In that respect,staff recruitment, retention and train-ing are the biggest challenges. Wewent through this learning curve andneeded some fire fighting skills at thebeginning.

“We will also likely continue to facesome operational challenges whichneed immediate intervention as this is the nature of our business. How-ever, we trust that, overall, we havereached a steady performance now,with KPI trends continuously show-ing upwards.

And, of course, we will continue to dowhatever is needed in support ofUnited’s ambitious targets.”

Richard Rowe

J O S E P H I N A L B O N

President & CEOSwissport International Ltd

IATA lists safety as one of its toppriorities and leads a variety ofinitiatives that assist its membersand the wider industry to maintainor enhance overall safety perfor-mance.

an investment and not a cost. IATAoffers a wide range of safety relatedtraining and workshops with one ofthe most recent initiatives being thelaunch of an IATA Basic AirsideSafety online course – a flexible andcost-effective way to teach best prac-tice in airside safety. The multimediaonline course does not have to be takenin a classroom and can be completedduring off peak periods of operation.

Following the principle that you getwhat you inspect and not what youexpect, every organisation shouldconstantly audit their performance –and this is particularly valid for safety.Last year, IATA launched the IATAOperational Safety Audit (IOSA), aninternationally recognised evaluationprogramme designed to assess air-lines’ operational management andcontrol systems.

Safety plays a very central role inthese audits, which also include groundoperations.In addition to IOSA,IATAalso proposes specific airside safetyaudits to providers of ground handl-

I N D U S T RY

Fitting safety as standard

C O N TA C T

For more information on IATA’ssafety initiatives visit:www.iata.org or email [email protected]

ing services and airports.These auditsare based on standards published inthe Airport Handling Manual.

Individually, each of the aboveelements has only a limited effect towards improving airport safety;broad benefits can only be achieved ifthese activities are integrated in aconsistent airside safety managementsystem,accepted and actively supportedby corporate officers.

The major components of such a planare the company’s overall health andsafety policy, accountabilities, standardoperating procedures and training, aswell as a risk assessment and auditingsystem.

IATA strongly recommends the im-plementation of Safety ManagementSystems with the ultimate goal beingto constantly reduce accidents andrelated costs.Take a look at AHM 630in your copy of the IATA AirportHandling Manual.

Thierry Nossent

F R O M T H E T O P

Leading from the front

One of the basic elements of safetymanagement is the development ofstandards that can be used for training,auditing, investigations and benchmark-ing. As such, IATA member airlinesparticipate in a number of committeesand working groups responsible forthe development of such standards.

In ground handling, the IATA GroundHandling Council has established theAirside Safety Group (ASG) that de-velops airside safety standards pub-lished in the Airport Handling Manual.These standards and recommendedpractices for worldwide use are developed through close cooperationbetween airlines, ground handlingcompanies and other partners.

Of course, the development of safetystandards has little benefit unless air-line and ground handling companystaff are aware of them. Training istherefore one of the essential ele-ments in safety performance.

Similarly, the ASG strongly believesthat training should be considered as

The number of incidents that still occur highlight the importance of continued safety training.


respond to their needs, while alsosupporting our full-service cus-tomers. This is no time for fancytricks or marketing gimmicks; suc-cess is based purely on attitude andaction.

For several years now, Swissport hasstrived to meet the needs of low-costcarriers wherever they emerge in theworld.

Perhaps more than any other, this stillevolving sector requires suppliers tonot only be nimble and cost effective,but also be highly progressive in theirthinking. This tallies with Swissport’sown thinking; our view is that low-cost air transport should be no differ-

ent to bus or rail travel.This is why weare involved in new initiatives such asenabling passengers to ticket them-selves at homes on their own printersto help speed their passage throughthe airport on arrival.

This is the kind of open-mindednessthat promotes trust, reinforces credi-bility and provides win-win solutionsfor all parties concerned. I am happyto say that our recent global customersurvey, summarised in these pages,highlights the perception that Swiss-port has the skills and expertise toprovide the kind of flexible handlingsolutions required by the world’scarriers – whatever their size andbusiness model.

Of course, it is a never-ending jour-ney,but we are gratified to see that weare on the right track. Thank you foryour continued support.

The changing needs of full servicecarriers and the very differentrequirements of the low-cost segmenthighlight the need for leading groundhandlers to move fast and thinkquickly. And that’s exactly whatSwissport is doing.

Swissport has never been one tofollow quietly in the paths of others;we prefer to set the pace, keeping up with trends – and sometimesdriving them – as we seek solutionsfor every single one of our airlinecustomers.

Of course, the low-cost-carriers putdifferent priorities in ground han-dling today, and it is our job to

No-frills carriers have transformedthe European air transport industry,but market leader Ryanair predictsfurther change on the horizon. TheIrish carrier is convinced that onlylow-cost leadership will succeed intoday’s price-driven environment.

The air transport industry has beenrevolutionised by a growing army oflow-cost airlines that have broughttheir brand of aggressive price compe-tition to bear on full-service carriers –and, increasingly, each other. How-ever, while passengers enjoy morechoice and lower prices than everbefore, the sheer profusion of suchoperators could precipitate a majorrestructuring of this still evolvingmarket.

Certainly, the number of low-cost ope-rators in Europe appears to change al-most monthly as new operators comeand go. European Union expansion inMay simply added 10 more countries tothe EU’s deregulated domestic avia-tion market, encouraging even moreplayers to throw their hats into the ring.Similarly, the conversion of chartercapacity in to low-fare scheduledcapacity, the launch by flag carriers oflow-fare subsidiaries and more com-petitive fares from full-service airlineshave all added to the crowd.

However, through this fog of newentrants, one operator continues toshine brightly: Ryanair.The Irish car-

rier that so unashamedly mimickedUS low-cost pioneer Southwest tocreate its own European success storyis now the region’s largest no-frillsoperator.

Known for its hard-nosed approach,Ryanair has grown rapidly using classiclow-cost formulae: operate a commonfleet of aircraft; work the assets hard;use only cheap, second-tier airports;and offer a bare bones in-flight prod-uct. In everything it does, the carrierepitomises the belief of CEO MichaelO’Leary that lowest cost wins.

However, a market characterised byover capacity, rock bottom pricingand steadily declining yields hasruffled even Ryanair’s feathers. InJanuary, the carrier’s shares suffered a31% single day collapse following itsfirst profit warning since joining thestock market in 1997. This was fol-

lowed by a European Commissionruling that some incentives receivedby Ryanair to serve Brussels Charle-roi airport constituted illegal stateaid.The carrier is now embroiled in alegal case with UK airport operatorBAA about fuel levies at LondonStansted.

The difficulties of this period werehighlighted in June when Ryanair re-ported its first fall in annual profits.However, although a blow, Ryanairstill posted figures that many airlinescould only dream of: in the full year to 31 March, the carrier’s adjustedafter tax profit margin fell from 28%to a still market-leading 21% (toEuro 226.6m). Meanwhile, annualpassenger traffic grew by a record47% to 23 million against an increasein capacity of 54%.Yields declined by14%, while unit costs were reduced by 6%.


M A R K E T

Low-cost battle intensifies

RYA N A I R FA S T F I G U R E S

■ Ryanair currently operates to 161 destinations in 17 countries acrossEurope

■ Passenger volume for the first quarter 04 (April –June) jumped from 5.1m to 6.6 m, up 28% on the same period last year. New bases atBarcelona Gerona and Rome Ciampino have performed particularlywell

■ Ryanair forecasts a total of 27.5m passengers in the 12 months to the end of March 05 – up 19% on last year’s 23.1m. Ryanair CEO, Michael O'Leary, believes the European low-cost market is about to

enter a shake out phase.

to mean that Ryanair planned to banits transport altogether.

Not so, says Ryanair. Instead the car-rier was simply thinking out loud as it explored a variety of cost cuttingoptions, including possible ways ofbypassing the traditional baggage beltat airports.

Current passenger travel habits sug-gest that hold baggage is a naturalarea to explore: with the averageRyanair passenger travelling for just2.5 days, more than 50% already car-ry just hand baggage.As such, the ideathat passengers will, over time, for-sake hold baggage altogether is per-haps not so far fetched.

In addition to continuing its obsessivecost cutting, Ryanair also plans togrow ancillary operations such as carrental, travel insurance and foreigncurrency exchange. Ancillary reve-nues leapt 40% in the last quarter andnow account for 12% of total reve-nue.

There is also a strong belief that, likesome airports, there is an opportunityto make more out of non-aeronauti-cal operations than actually flying air-

craft. As such, Ryanair is expected todevelop additional non-travel relatedbusinesses such as home loans andcredit cards. Onboard, the carrier islooking seriously at offering in-flightentertainment options, with seat backscreens allowing passengers to swipetheir credit cards to watch movies andaccess news.

Back in the business of flying aircraft,Ryanair will continue to add capacity– albeit at a much slower rate thanbefore – and recently added eightnew routes. These include its firstforay into Eastern Europe (Riga) andan increased offer to Spain (San-tander and Zaragoza).

And with passenger growth of 20%expected for the next 12 months, 120new B737-800 aircraft on order and acommitment to grow traffic to 50 mil-lion passengers per year by 2010, thefuture appears rosy for Ryanair. Itjust needs to keep those costs down.

Richard Rowe

Nonetheless, the announcement ofthese better than expected resultscame with a dire warning fromO’Leary: industry yields would con-tinue to decline 5–10% over the sum-mer with a stronger fall still of10–20% over the winter months. Assuch, O’Leary believes the European low-cost market is about to enter ashake out phase. In particular, he has predicted a “bloodbath” as over-capacity and unsustainable pricing bycompetitors “trying to stay alive” willresult in more operators disappearingaltogether.

Market evolutionInterestingly, while several low-costcarriers in the US are moving theirproducts upmarket – witness JetBluewith its free satellite TV – the Euro-pean industry seems to be heading inthe opposite direction.

No problem, says Ryanair, whichlooks set to continue leveraging itscost leadership position to achieve itsgoal of being one of only a couple oflarge low-fare airlines in the region.

Analysts suggest that by continuingto drive prices even lower, the carrierwill increase pressure on higher cost

competitors for as long as it takes toaffect a market restructuring that, inturn, would see a return to a more‘normal’ pricing environment.

O’Leary, who speaks of cost cutting as “an attitude of mind”, aims to re-duce fares and unit costs by 5% eachyear.And despite the high fuel prices,Ryanair says it has no intention of im-posing fuel surcharges and feels thatoil prices will fall again this comingwinter.

However, having already achieved96% Internet booking, pioneered theuse of under-utilised secondary air-ports in Europe and even gone to thelengths of using easy clean leatherseats onboard – and eliminating re-clining seats altogether – it is difficultto see where additional costs can beremoved.

The answer is to think smarter, saysthe Ryanair boss. Earlier this year themedia interpreted comments aboutthe future transport of hold baggage


M A R K E T

Ryanair plans to grow ancillary operations such as car rental,

travel insurance and foreign currency exchange.

C O M P E T I T I O N , C A PA C I T Y A N D C O N S O L I D AT I O N

Swissreporter also took the oppor-tunity to speak with easyJet Mar-keting Manager, Philippe Vignon,about the carrier’s position withinEurope’s low-cost sector.

Swissreporter: How challenging abusiness has the European low-costmarket become?Philippe Vignon: When easyJet firstbegan, we were one of only two

LCCs in Europe - now there are 53.Traditional airlines have also reacted tothe challenge and the whole environment is radically different. There is nodoubt that we face a tough few months: competition has grown – look atGermany and Central Europe – and there is a big pressure on yields. How-ever, as the third most important intra-European airline, we have the sizeand strength to fight back and I expect the pressure to decrease from earlynext year.

Despite stiff competition and high fuel prices easyJet has still addedconsiderable capacity this year.Yes, we have seen tremendous growth at our new German hubs.At Berlin,and since April, we will have grown from 0–20 routes by November. Wehave also opened nine routes from Dortmund. The good news is that wehave mature markets elsewhere (e.g. UK) and so can absorb some of thecompetition on these new routes.

What has been your approach to marketing such new destinations? Traditional carriers often forget that you sell a route from both ends. Wehave always put in a strong presence at both ends, rather than just relyingon the outbound market to sustain routes.

We understand you plan to exit certain markets due to excessive cost? We have to show a clear message to some airports and will pull out of Zürich from the end of the summer season (October 30). It is just too com-plex and expensive. We will also decrease operations in Amsterdam andCopenhagen over time.

Some analysts suggest that only a handful of European LCCs are destinedto survive. Is that how you see it? I agree. Ultimately, we will see just two to three major LCCs in Europe.Some people have entered the market just to become quick millionaires,butit is not that simple.You need a certain scale and we are in a strong positionthanks to our quality network. We will see if any of the traditional carriersdevelop sustainable low-cost options – although few have managed to do so in the past.

How important is positioning as LCCs work to differentiate themselves?Clear positioning is now mandatory. We are differentiating ourselves bylooking to improve the whole journey for passengers, making it easy andaffordable to travel to the airport and check in. We also want to increaseInternet booking and are pleased that business travellers now account forroughly one third of all passengers.

Finally, where do ground service providers fit into your low-cost equation? Of course, cost is the major issue here. I would say that where once therewas no real consideration of LCCs’ needs, there has been an immense cul-ture change. Take Swissport, our handler in Basle, where the performanceis now outstanding. In future, I expect to see even greater segmentation inground handling.

What began as a distinctly US phe-nomenon with Southwest Airlines30 years ago has developed into abusiness model that has enjoyedsuccess around the world. RalphBeisel and Jan-Eric Heider fromArthur D. Little’s Aviation Compe-tence Center examine the future ofthe low-cost airline sector.

Low-cost carriers (LCCs) have earnedthemselves substantial market shareswithin a very short space of time inevery region in which they haveemerged. Already they account forover 20% of the US airline market,while even our most conservativeestimates forecast their current 11%share of the European market willtop 20% by 2010.

Meanwhile, in Asia, LCCs have facedlonger routes, less favourable trafficrights and fewer of the secondary air-ports that they find so attractive.Despite these complications, they arestill expected to make rapid inroadsinto the Asian market.With 130 citiesof a million or more inhabitants andsome 550 million people in its catch-ment area, Asia offers even morepotential than Western Europe (witha population of 251 million) or the US(182 million).

So,with these developments around theworld,what changes – if any – do we seein the LCC model? New start-ups areborn almost every week and LCCs areincreasingly being forced to find their

own market niche; as such, differentiat-ing the product while keeping costs lowis the secret to further success.

LCCs currently provide the mainengine for industry growth, but howlong is this likely to continue? Ryan-air and easyJet have each placedorders (including options) for some250 new aircraft.

Our projections, however, indicatethat the increase in capacity will out-pace overall market growth, creatingan overcapacity that could drive play-ers out of the market. Of the 40 to 50LCCs currently operating in Europe,only around ten are expected to sur-vive. In the US, the number of LCCshas remained largely stable atbetween six and ten in recent years.

Supplier opportunitiesWith the revenues and yields of theestablished network carriers beingseriously eroded by the rise of theirlow-cost competitors, the industry’sairports, ground handlers and othersuppliers must learn to live with newmarket parameters. As our studiesindicate, those airports that are fa-voured by LCCs actually grow fasterthan those that are not. However,growth rates show sizeable variationsaccording to geographic region andairport type (see table below).

The volatility of the LCC business iswell demonstrated by the example of easyJet. The carrier’s recent with-

drawal of services from routes toZürich,Amsterdam and Copenhagenis evidence of the lack of permanencewithin the sector. Instead, easyJetnow prefers to send its aircraft toEastern Europe.

In addition, most of the airports thathave secured themselves LCC trafficare losing money on it. Our studiesshow that airports must be consistent

in modifying their processes and coststructures. Also, with LCCs passingtheir own cost pressures on to the air-ports, optimum exploitation of non-aviation earning potential will be cru-cial to these airports’ businesses.

And it is not only airports that canbenefit from the rise of LCCs –ground handlers can also grow inparallel.To do so, however, they needto offer a ground service productcharacterised by low costs, flexibilityand the creativity to develop newsolutions.

Short turnaround times are one of theLCCs’ key means of keeping costslow.As such, any ground handler thathas optimised its ground handlingprocesses will enjoy a key competi-tive advantage in the LCC market.

But, considering the high volumes ofentrants to and departures from theLCC market, great care must also betaken to appraise a customer carrier’slong-term attractiveness when devel-oping handling facilities or openingnew stations.

Ralph Beisel /Jan-Eric Heider


S P E C I A L F O C U S

LCCs come of age


THE GROWTH OF A IRPORTS W I TH LOW-COST CARR I ERS

Low-cost carrier (LCC) airports are showing substantially higher-than-average growth rates in both Asia and theAmericas. In Europe, the LCCs are only having a positive impact on growth in the secondary airport sector.

Year-on-year growth in passenger numbers, 2002/2003

S W I S S P O R T A N D L C C S

Swissport has long understood the needs of LCCs and five years ago in-troduced its well-known ‘gain-on-ground-time’ concept – an initiative thatsaved Swissport customers more than 8,000 hours of ground time in 2003.Other milestones in the sector include:

■ Close cooperation with leading European players Ryanair and easyjetin the UK, as well as with dominant providers in Germany

■ A long-standing business relationship with most of the successful LCCsin the US

■ Main provider for GOL – the leading LCC in South America – at morethan 10 locations

■ An individual approach for tailor-made solutions, flexible resourcemanagement and cross-utilisation

■ Bargain facilities, such as local ticketing, SSD, stand-alone and remotecheck-in

■ Special pricing models per area/region, per seat, per turnaround,or according to seat-load-factor

■ Modular cost-plus-opportunities whereby Swissport provides the basicswith additional (‘nice to have’) features available for purchase sepa-rately

■ Active support and collaboration to develop new fast-track solutions(e.g. initiatives such as passengers printing out boarding cards at home).

–12

–8

–4

0

4

8

12

16

20Asia

–12

–8

–4

0

4

8

12

16

20Europe

–12

–8

–4

0

4

8

12

16

20

Secondaryairports

Continental hubs

Intercont’lhubs

1.4%

6.7%5.2%

–1.5% –1.6%

2.2% 2.0%

19%

–4.9%

6.9%

–11.8%

0.7%

4.5%

9.7%

3.7%

–1.2%

2.5% 1.4%

Airports without home-base LCC Airports with home-base LCC

Source: Arthur D. Little analysis, ITA 2003 data

The Americas

Continental hubs

Intercont’lhubs

Secondaryairports

Intercont’lhubs

Continental hubs

Secondaryairports

A variety of airports have respond-ed to the growth in low-cost carrieroperations by announcing plans tobuild dedicated no-frills infrastruc-ture.

There is little doubt that the arrival oflow-cost carriers has changed the shapeof air transport today.A phenomenonthat began in the US with Southwesthas since become the dominant formof air transport in Europe and has nowspread to new markets such as Indiaand Southeast Asia for the first time.

While the explosive growth of suchoperations has caused traditional full-service carriers to rethink their busi-nesses, the same can also be said forairports. Previously, no-frills opera-tors were synonymous with smaller,second-tier airports. Today, however,larger airports appear equally deter-mined to get in on the act.

As ever, the key lies in keeping costslow. Just ask Prague Ruzyne Airportwhich now offers landing charges18% lower than 1997 levels.“We alsooperate a ‘risk sharing’ policy where,for new scheduled destinations, weapply a 50% discount on landingcharges for the first year of opera-tions,” explains Martin Kacur, CEO.

Such efforts have already seen Pragueattract a dozen low-cost carriers, al-though Kacur says that Prague’s goalis to provide the best service/priceratio to attract a variety of carriers,notjust no-frills operators.

Rather than combine the two underone roof, other airports have decidedthat the low-cost and full-service busi-

ness models are so different that theyrequire separate infrastructure. “Wethink there is a place for segmenta-tion and have decided to provide achoice for airlines and their passen-gers,” says Pierre Regis, General Di-rector, Marseilles Provence Airport.

Marseilles approached all of its cus-tomers about their potential interest inoperating from a specific low-cost ter-minal and received a positive responsefrom Air France, easyJet and Ryanair.The project is now expected to go-ahead with the first flights scheduledfor summer 2006 (see graphic above).

To keep construction costs down,Marseilles will revamp an old cargoterminal to create a bare bones facil-ity minus the usual premium servicessuch as air bridges, baggage transfersystems and VIP lounges.

“We expect to lower the passengerservice charge from about six euros inthe full-service terminal to one euroin the low-cost facility,” explains Regis.And with no baggage transfer andturnarounds of just 25 minutes, han-dling charges at the new terminal are

likely to be reduced between 25 and40%.

Elsewhere, Geneva Cointrin Airporthas made a similar decision and plansto turn its old Terminal 2 into a dedi-cated low-cost facility, also in time forsummer 2006. According to airportspokesman Philippe Roy, the decisionresults from discussions with easyJet –Geneva’s dominant carrier – althoughothers have also expressed interest.

The trick is to accommodate the needsof low-cost operators without alienat-ing other airlines – something that

Geneva has fallen foul of already.Several full-service carriers havevoiced strong opposition to the pro-posal at a time when their own pas-senger fees were scheduled to go up.Geneva has since suspended its earli-er decision to increase passenger feesat the main terminal this year.

Although low-cost carriers are a rela-tively new phenomenon in Asia,much of the growth has centred onSingapore. As such, Singapore Chan-gi has become the region’s first air-

port to commit to building a dedicat-ed low-cost facility. “As a regionalhub, Singapore Changi is doing whatit can to help grow this new segment,”explains Foo Sek Min, Deputy Direc-tor, Airport Management.

The decision follows a firm operationalcommitment from Tiger Airways –Singapore Airlines’ new low-cost entity– and from 2006 carriers at Changi willbe able to choose from one of threeterminals.“Some may feel their businessmodel can absorb the higher cost of T1or T2 because the assessment is thattheir passengers would be willing to paya bit more for better service,” says Foo.

The new terminal will be a single-storey facility, built in a modular fash-ion to allow easy expansion in thefuture.Charges such as counter rentaland office space will be some 20%lower than at Changi’s two existingterminals, explains Foo.

Meanwhile, in the US, JetBlue Air-ways recently signed an agreementwith the Port Authority to construct anew hub terminal at New York JFK.Work on the terminal,which will havea capacity of 20 million passengersper year,will begin later this year withcompletion slated for 2008.

It is a major project for a low-cost oper-ator and will be the largest terminaldesigned, owned and operated by suchan airline to date. And with the facilitybeing built to JetBlue’s exact specifica-tions, it will provide a valuable insightinto a low-cost carrier’s priorities whenit comes to terminal design.

Richard Rowe

E X P L O S I V E G R O W T H

Europe already has more than 60 no-frills ventures, but a spate of recentlyannounced start-ups elsewhere show that other regions are catching up:

■ India – Kingfisher, Air India Express, Alliance Air, Air Deccan

■ Singapore – ValuAir, Tiger Airways, JetStar Asia

■ US – Virgin America

■ Australia – JetStar

■ South Africa – Civair, 1Time.1Time

■ Thailand – Nok Air


S P E C I A L F O C U S

Airports invest in low-costground infrastructure

undertakings and the requisite ex-pertise is essential to make them asuccess. That means ensuring thatspecialists from all areas – legal, HR,operations, finance, safety & security,supply management, IT and so on –are involved as early as possible. Ex-perience has also demonstrated thewisdom of agreeing on basic principles,parameters and objectives at the startof the negotiations.The full support oftop management is also crucial.

With three major agreements alreadyconcluded, our Swissport teams canlook back on the achievements of thepast 12 months with considerable pride.All in all, the past year has seen us:

■ Migrate and/or take over 70 stationsaround the world (including ATOs)

■ Acquire and change over 480 con-tractual agreements (includingthose with other handlers)

■ Introduce an extensive perfor-mance measurement programme

■ Assume and integrate over 160personnel, retaining their know-ledge and skills

■ Achieve savings of tens of millionsof Swiss francs

■ Establish a centralised airline keyaccount management organisationproviding a single point of entry forairline customers.

Clearly, the days when airlines hardlydared consider such radical remodell-ing of their activities are over. Andthese moves need not always extendto total outsourcing with the transferof all personnel involved; smaller

steps such as regional packages orjoint ventures are often a good start-ing point for the airline and handlerto get to know each other.

At Swissport, we are delighted to dis-cuss any and every option and whenwe do so it is always with the benefitto an airline rather than the size of thecommission in mind. The graph sum-marises the various collaboration mo-dels we envisage, including the possi-ble dependencies involved.

Our Global Packages & Outsourcingteam – led by Vice President, WillyHallauer – are specialists in dealingwith any questions and concerns youmay have. So why not meet them todiscuss the opportunities they see forworking together?

In our recent global customer airlinesurvey (see pages 18 –19), 34% of re-spondents said they could imagineembarking on an outsourcing projector discussing a global/regional ser-vice package. The evidence is and not some exotic illusion: partially orwholly outsourcing ground handlingrequirements is a concrete option forair carriers today.

Stephan Beerli


I N D U S T RY T R E N D S

Special packages gainmomentum

C O N TA C T

Willy HallauerVP Global Packages & OutsourcingPhone +41 43 812 45 60Fax +41 1 811 10 [email protected]

C O M F O R T FA C T O R – S W I S S P O R T AT Y O U R S I D E

There is no need to be apprehensive about considering such a fundamentalrethink of your approach to ground handling.Swissport is with you all of theway and offers support through a variety of tools:

■ Spread sheets with all existing contracting contents across our network(including simulation models)

■ Specific project software programmes

■ Quality performance check sheets and audit reports

■ SLA templates and models to streamline product standards

■ Rostering and HR planning tools to analyse and evaluate the pro-ductivity

■ Legal advice and appropriate contracting wordings for certain trans-actions (including union topics).

O U R P R E PA R AT I O N K I T

Swissport has identified several key questions that need to be raised at thevery beginning of any potential airline/handler agreement:

■ Scope (what is included/excluded)

■ Project timing (including management attention)

■ Financial (cost) transparency and base line (a clear starting point)

■ Cooperation impact at all levels (e.g. HR, IT, legal)

■ Strong project management (sequences, roles and processes)

■ Commitments with binding objectives/contracts/principles/liabilities.

Similarly, we are also acutely aware of how focussed airlines are on issuessuch as single point of entry, people transfer, quality assurance and manyother areas. Rest assured that Swissport is well used to dealing with suchchallenging topics and all are carefully considered.

The economic outlook has improved,but cost pressures continue to forcecarriers and their handlers to seekbetter solutions and approaches. Andthey are finding them, too, as thisupdate on Swissport’s outsourcingand special package efforts indicate.

Many aviation specialists will havewondered why Swiss InternationalAir Lines opted to entrust its entireground handling activity to Swissport.SWISS has totally outsourced theseservices – all personnel and equip-ment, all over the world.

SWISS’s reasons for doing so areclear: the move promises sizeable costsavings, while ensuring a top-qualityproduct and performance. Of course,the fact that SWISS is facing its ownfinancial challenges will have been aconsideration, as was the fact thatSWISS was already handled by Swiss-port at most of its destinations.

However, if the SWISS move mighthave been considered a ‘one-off’, Unit-ed’s US cargo package and KLM’sglobal deal both confirm the trend:major regional and global handlingagreements and the subcontracting oroutsourcing of entire station organisa-tions have developed from interestingexperiments to concrete reality.

We cannot name names for confiden-tiality reasons, but Swissport is nowtalking to many other airlines aboutnew options for their ground handlingarrangements.These are not provision-al projects, but concrete evaluations offuture collaboration models.

Of course, the first step is the hardest.Agreements of this kind are complex

F L E X I B L E C O L L A B O R AT I O N M O D E L S

I N S I D E

Following the recent senior management restructuring, we asked Swissport’s new division heads five questions about their style ofmanagement and the challenges that lie ahead.

Setting the paceDescribe your management philosophy

Describe your geographic market and busi-ness priorities

Please outline your career steps

What personal attributes do handling execu-tives need to succeed?

What do you do in your spare time?

EVP Asia, Africa, Middle Eastand Global Cargo

SIMON LEHMANN

EVP Commercial (Sales)

URS S IEBER

EVP Europe and Switzerland

ERICH BODENMANN

EVP Americas

I trust in peoples’ capabilities, somanagement by objective is themain philosophy. Once we havejointly agreed what the target is, Iact more as a consultant who givesadvice and feedback.

I have responsibilities within bothdimensions of our new matrixorganisation: the Asia, Africa andMiddle East region and our globalcargo product. Geographically, thepriority is business development:managing a successful start up inSingapore comes first, but we alsowant to enter China. Cargo-wise,we must continue to grow the busi-ness profitably and improve thequality offered.

After receiving an MBA and PhDin business and time as a universi-ty teacher, I set up a travel andtransportation management con-sultancy with a colleague. Afterselling up, I joined SAir Group asPresident & CEO of Swisscargo.Later, I attended the AdvancedManagement Program at HarvardBusiness School before joiningSwissport as EVP Corporate Ser-vices in 2002.

In a global business, respect andopenness for all cultures is essen-tial. Being down to earth, pragmaticand open for change is also crucial.

I like to be at home, playing golfand enjoying the hills aroundZürich on my mountain bike.

Overall, I want to be close to ourcustomers and my staff, with communication, transparency andleading by example all essential for success. I try to motivate staffpersonally, be fair to everyone yetchallenge people to achieve maxi-mum results.

My department’s market beginsand ends at the North and SouthPoles! Our aims are to achievemaximum growth across the net-work; to optimise all cross-sellingopportunities; to follow markettrends and new opportunities; and,of course, support the airlines inachieving their objectives.

A commercial apprenticeship inthe freight forwarding industry wasfollowed by an airline cargo salesrole for an Asian carrier beforejoining Jacky Maeder’s Australiansubsidiary as a sales delegate. Ilater led the Logistics Group ofNuance in Australia and SouthwestPacific. I joined Swissport as GMtrainee in 2001 and served as CEO in Greece and Germany and then asEuropean Sales Director prior to mycurrent role.

The world is our home and eachmarket brings different challenges –requiring flexibility and an open-ness to change. Strong decision-making and negotiation skills areessential to manage daily and leadstrategically.

Although limited, I enjoy spendingit with my children and maintain-ing friendships around the world. Ialso like to ski and cycle.

Promote the strong points in everyemployee and manage the weakpoints. I believe in continued im-provement, with customer orienta-tion always the first priority.

Western Europe is my key area ofactivity, although Eastern Europewill become increasingly impor-tant for us. My priority is to partic-ipate in the growth of our industry,ensure profitable investment wher-ever we do business and promotenew activities beside our core han-dling product.

My 30-year career has includedmanagerial positions in groundhandling, marketing and sales andnetwork management. A previousrole as Airport Director at Basel-Mulhouse Airport taught me valu-able lessons as an infrastructureprovider. I have since had two jobsat Swissport: head of DivisionSwitzerland, followed by Europe/Switzerland.

Aviation experience, entrepre-neurship, a multi-cultural outlook,people motivation skills, flexibilityand strong decision making.

Invest in family and friends, sports –cycling, tennis and skiing – plusextensive travel, literature and dolcefarniente (i.e. being lazy!).

I differentiate between managementand leadership: I manage processesand lead people/organisations. Lead-ership involves setting an example,ambitious goal setting, discipline,fairness and open communication.

The Swissport Americas area rangesfrom Anchorage in the north to Bari-loche (Argentina) in the south andfrom Recife (Brazil) in the east toPago Pago (American Samoa) in thewest. Most markets are deregulated,saturated and extremely competi-tive.We want to grow the cargo andground handling businesses inLatin America, while maintainingour efforts in North America. Asecond priority is to expand businesslines such as executive aviation,security, GSE maintenance, aircraftmaintenance and fuelling.

I ‘grew up’ in aircraft maintenancewith one function being Head ofPlanning and Engineering for Shan-non Aerospace in Ireland. I thenworked for an aircraft manufactur-ing company as VP Production andlater as VP Planning, Logistics & IT,before joining the ground handlingcommunity in 1999 assumingresponsibility for DynAir – nowSwissport North America

Being a good entrepreneur, commu-nicator and leader are all important,as is the need for multiculturalsensitivity.

There is not much of it, but familylife, skiing,cycling, travelling – thensleep!


2

3

4

5

1

2

34

5

1

DR LUDWIG BERTSCH

Swissport Executive Aviation

(.) = Number of airports served

FranceLilleLyonMulhouseNantesNiceParis (2)RouenStrasbourgToulouse

FranceLilleLyonMulhouseNantesNiceParis (2)RouenStrasbourgToulouse

London (4)

Guadalajara

Denver

Porto AlegreFlorianopolis

São Paulo (3)

Buenos Aires (2)San Fernando

MontevideoPunta del Este

Salto

RosarioCordoba

Mendosa

Rio de Janeiro (2)

New York (5)Rockford

Newcastle

Birmingham

New Orleans

Harlingen

Philadelphia

Checkport

San Diego


N E T W O R K

Some of the more than 650 customers served bySwissport International around the world

Adria AirwaysAegean Cronus AirlinesAer LingusAero LloydAeroflot Russian Intl. AirlinesAerolineas ArgentinasAeromexicoAir AlfaAir AlgerieAir CanadaAir ChinaAir EuropeAir FranceAir HollandAir IndiaAir Jamaica Ltd.Air MaltaAir MauritiusAir SeychellesAir Tanzania Air Transat A.T. Inc.Alaska AirlinesAlitaliaAll Nippon AirwaysAmerica West Airlines Inc.American Airlines Inc.American Trans Air Inc.AnatoliaArizona Fueling FacilitiesArkia Israeli Airlines Ltd.Asiana AirlinesAtlas Air Inc.Austrian AirlinesAviancaBAX Global Inc.Belair Airlines AGBiman Bangladesh AirlinesBoston Fueling CorporationBritanniaBritish AirwaysCargolux Airlines InternationalCathay Pacific AirwaysChina Airlines Ltd.China Eastern AirlinesCielos AirlinesCondor Flugdienst GmbH

Congo AirlinesContinental Airlines Inc.Copa AirlinesCroatia AirlinesCSA – Czech AirlinesCyprus AirwaysDAT Nv / SaDelta Air Lines Inc.DHL Worldwide ExpressEasyJet EgyptairEl Al Israel Airlines Ltd.Emery Worldwide Airlines Inc.EmiratesEthiopian AirlinesEva Airways CorporationFederal Express CorporationFinnairFirst Choice Airways Ltd.Fort Myers Fuel CommiteeFreebird Airlines A.S.GermanwingsGhana AirwaysGOL Transportes AéreosGulf AirHelvetic AirwaysIberiaIcelandairJapan Airlines Co. Ltd.JAT – Jugoslav AirlinesJetBlue AirwaysKLM Royal Dutch AirlinesKorean AirKTHY-Kibris Türk Hava YolariKuwait AirwaysLacsaLAN Chile S.A.Lauda AirLibyan Arab AirlinesLOT – Polish Airlines S.A.LTU International AirwaysLufthansaMaersk AirMalaysian Airline System BerhardMalev – Hungarian AirlinesMartinair Holland

MEA – Middle East AirlinesMesa AirlinesMexicana AirlinesMNG Cargo AirlinesMonarchNippon Cargo AirlinesNorth American Airlines Inc.Northwest Airlines Inc.Oakland Fuel FacilitiesOlympic AirwaysOrlando Sanford InternationalPegasusPIA – Pakistan Intern. AirlinesQantas Airways Ltd.Qatar AirwaysRoyal Air MarocRoyal JordanianRyanairSaudi Arabian AirlinesScandinavian Airlines SystemSingapore AirlinesSkymasterSouth African AirwaysSouthwest Airlines CoSpanair S.A.SriLanka Airlines Ltd.Swiss International Air LinesSwiss WorldCargoSyrianairTACA International Airlines SATAP – Air PortugalTaromThai Airways InternationalTunisairTurkish AirlinesUairUnited AirlinesUnited Parcel ServiceUS AirwaysUSA 3000 Inc.Varig – Brazilian AirlinesVirgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.Virgin ExpressVolare Airlines SpAWorld Airways Inc.

K E Y F I G U

Number of

Number of

Annual rev

Aircraft han

Metric tonn

Passengers

169 stations

GermanyBerlin (2)CologneDresdenDusseldorfFrankfurtHamburgHanoverMunichNurembergStuttgart

Germany

CologneDresden

MunichNuremberg

BelgiumAntwerpBrusselsLiege

BelgiumAntwerpBrusselsLiege

Luxembourg

Milan (2)

Nevsehir

LagosYaounde

Amsterdam

Warsaw

Kayseri

Samsun

Erzerum

DiyarbakirGaziantep

Malabo Douala

Port Harcourt

N E T W O R K


Latest contracts signed

Anchorage British Petroleum, Singapore AirlinesAthens Air Baltic, Air Finland, Emirates, Europe

Airpost, Heli Air, MNG, North American,Pan Aviation, Pullmantour Air, Viaggio

Atlanta Afra Air CargoBarcelona British AirwaysBasel EasyJet, Hello, MAS Cargo, RavaviaBirmingham Monarch, Skyways, WideroeBoston Aeromexico, America West,

Swiss International Air LinesCancun FBO Asur, Pulman Tours, Southern Wings,

Thomas CookCologne Malmö AviationGeneva Darwin Airlines, Hello, HelveticHonolulu Polar Air CargoJohannesburg YemenLas Vegas MexicanaLondon/LGW FreebirdLondon/STN Freebird, GermanwingsLong Island Comair, US AirMadrid HelveticManchester British Airways, FlyBe,

Swiss International Air LinesMexico City Holland ExpressMiami Aerolineas Argentinas, Santa Barbara AirlinesMontevideo Tam MercosurMunich Wizz AirNairobi Saudia ArabianNew York/JFK Biman Bangladesh, Copa, Emirates,

Independence Air, KLM, Mexicana New York / LGA Air Tran AirwaysNice Alpi Eagles, Blue Line, Globespan,

Helios Airways, MonarchParis /CDG Air Luxor, Air Polonia, Blue Line, Condor,

JET X, Malmö Aviation, Smart WingsPunta Cana West CarribbeanPuerto Plata Air MadridReno Alaska Air, American WestSalto PlunaSao Paolo/GRU Iberia, JALSao Paolo/VCP Arrow AirSeattle Eva Airways, FrontierToulouse Condor, Malmö Aviation, SEFAVienna British AirwaysWashington/IAD Alitalia, FrontierZürich Aer Lingus, Albanian, Icelandair, Intersky,

Travelservice, United

R E S F O R 2 0 0 4 S W I S S P O R T

customers over 650

employees over 22,000

venue (2003) USD 950,000,000

ndeled per year 2,000,000

nes handled 3,000,000

handled per year over 70,000,000

s in 34 countries


boat and villa owners along the Côted’Azur arrived to enjoy themselves.

Elsewhere, special events have alsoassisted in dramatically increasing re-venue and aircraft movements atSEA’s base in Basel. In June, Baselhosted a major art fair that attractedmany collectors, sellers, connoisseursand art enthusiasts.This event helpedproduce three times the normalmonthly revenue at the base, whichwas very satisfying. Service was of theusual high standard and, again, con-gratulations must go to the manage-ment and staff who worked so tire-lessly during this busy period.

Less dramatic, but still very impor-tant, was the increased business ob-tained from English Premier Leaguesoccer teams at SEA’s London Heath-row executive facility.With the soccerseason fast approaching various teamswere travelling to far-away destina-tions to play friendly or demonstra-tion matches as the players got intoshape for another gruelling cam-paign.

London Heathrow was privileged toplay its part in the smooth departureand arrival of a variety of club coach-es, management and their valuableassets, the players – all minus thestress associated with passing througha traditional airport departure area.

Confidentiality and security are bothmajor benefits of using SEA as all ourmanagement and staff work to shieldclients from the glare of the press,sports media and a demanding generalpublic.

While the likes of Nice, Basel andLondon Heathrow all performedwonders, the many other bases in theSEA network also played their partin the division’s strong first half per-formance. Revenue at our Germanbases, for instance, has slowly but

surely increased month by month,with an exciting expansion planned inthe very near future. Look out formore news in the next issue of Swiss-reporter.

Meanwhile, the Latin and CentralAmerican markets that performed sowell in 2003 have continued to im-press during the first half of 2004.Air-craft movements and revenues are upin Brazil and the Dominican Repub-lic, while creditable performanceshave been noted in Peru and Argenti-na.

Finally, by the time you read this, theOlympic Games in Athens will havecome to an end. We are happy toreport that SEA has been in the thickof the action, with more than 300executive aircraft operators havingpre-booked aircraft for the Games inAugust.

Our highly-trained executive aviationstaff have been on hand ready to meetthe challenge of maintaining a high-quality service and ensure a positiveexperience for all passengers andcrew during this busy period.Again, afull report will feature in the next edi-tion of Swissreporter.

Alan George

P R O D U C T

Strong half year for SEA

A L A N G E O R G E

VP Executive AviationPhone +41 43 812 20 [email protected]

Swissport Executive Aviation’s im-pressive performance during the firsthalf of 2004 underlines the messagethat high-quality service, flexibilityand a willingness to ensure total cus-tomer satisfaction remains the onlypath to success in this sector.

Swissport Executive Aviation (SEA)has experienced 20% revenue growthduring the first half of 2004 – an out-standing performance that builds onthe 18% growth posted during the2003 financial year.

The first half of the year saw SEA’sflagship Nice station handle a total of1,500 aircraft including the majorityof customers arriving for the MonacoF1 Grand Prix and the Cannes FilmFestival during the peak month ofMay.

With 160 aircraft arriving in a two-day period, the base was certainlystretched to meet the exacting stan-dards expected from our discerningclientele of sports and film stars,celebrities and top executives fromthe business world. Congratulationsto the staff at Nice for the calm wayin which they handled this largevolume of business, passengers andcrew.

However, the Nice story does not endon just this high note: the busy holidayseason kicked in during June with the amount of aircraft almost toppingthose handled in May as the high-value

Every single base has contributed to an excellent first half of the year for Swissport Executive Aviation.


Swissport Cargo Services contin-ues to develop new products – andpick up additional business – as itlooks to cement its leading positionin the international cargo handlingsector.

launch of “FreightFinder”, the latestworktool for the international cargohandling sector.

FreightFinder can be used at any timeof the day or night to constantly mon-itor entire cargo flows up to the ship-ment level. Needless to say, the newapplication also pays full regard tosensitive and confidential data: thesystem’s special access codes and iden-

P R O D U C T

Cargo service innovations

U N I T P O O L H I T S 3 0 C U S T O M E R S F O R U L D M A N A G E M E N T

Unitpool,Swissport’s ULD management daughter, recently gained four newcustomer airlines, taking its tally to 30 – a remarkable achievement consid-ering that Unitpool only started business in 2002.

The flurry of new customers began in June when new UAE carrier EtihadAirways signed a three-year contract for Unitpool to take over its ULDcontrol and management. Etihad operates a fleet of wide-bodied aircraftserving a rapidly growing network in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

“Since commencing our operations in October 2003 we have reviewed a number of options to cover our ULD needs,” commented Robert Stroedel,

Head of Cargo at Etihad. “We will focus on our core business and are confident that Unitpool will bring globalimprovements in our ULD handling, stock control and tracking.”

World Airways followed suit a few days later when it inked an agreement that builds on an initial contract signed in December 2003. Under the new arrangement, Unitpool assumes full responsibility to supply, repair and globallytrack ULDs operated on World Airways’ extensive global network.

A third airline to enter into long-term partnership with Unitpool is Thailand’s emerging carrier Phuket Air.Established in 2001, Phuket Air recently expanded its fleet by adding B747 aircraft to support its internationalexpansion. This includes new services between Bangkok and London that began in July.

Finally, Unitpool has struck a long-term deal with Turkish carrier Fly Air, which operates an Airbus fleet withinEurope and the Middle East. “The addition of Fly Air as a member of our ULD pool further demonstrates thegrowing interest in the ULD control and pooling services we have pioneered,” comments a happy Jorgen Veslov,Unitpool’s Director of Business Processes.

Unitpool Contact, [email protected], Phone +41 43 255 41 44

tification procedures ensure that cus-tomer data are only made available toapproved user groups.

Swissport is delighted at the launch ofFreightFinder and has high hopes thatthe new application will sharpen itscompetitive edge in the keenly con-tested cargo handling market. “Thissimple monitoring system will offerthe opportunity for airlines and cargocompanies to optimise their work-flows,”explains Paul Marsman,Swiss-port’s project manager for Freight-Finder’s development.

“It could also save them substantialcosts which in today’s market environ-ment is especially good news,” addsDavid Harman, Head of Swissport’sCargo Division Europe.

The new FreightFinder application hasalready been subjected to extensivetesting and a variety of carriers, all withclose business relations with Swissport,have been heavily involved in its de-velopment.The new application shouldbe increasingly deployed throughoutthe autumn, enabling all Swissport’sbusiness partners and the entire cargoindustry to benefit from its many assetsand advantages.

Jan van Anrooy

As previously introduced in Swiss-reporter (see issue 13), Freightfinderis a forward-looking cargo trackingand tracing system that not only usesthe latest internet technology,but alsosets new benchmarks in the cargo andairport handling sector.

Swissport took the recent TIACA AirCargo Forum in Bilbao as an idealopportunity to announce the official

C O N TA C T

[email protected]


S A D FC O L L A B O R AT I O N

Swissport has agreed to sponsor a new charity that offers free,long-distance transport to patientswho need non-emergency medicalcare. This project is one of the first steps in Swissport's widercorporate social responsibility pro-gramme.

Lorenzo “Todd” Fulton came into the world unexpectedly. Born prema-turely in the 23rd week of pregnancywhile his parents,Amanda Brake andDavid Fulton, were on holiday inItaly, he miraculously survived.Finally, in February 2004, after sixmonths in hospital, Todd was strongenough to travel. Now he needed toreturn home to the UK for specialisedsurgery to prevent permanent blind-ness. But how? The risk of infectionfrom travelling with a normal airlinewas unacceptably high. Meanwhile,transport by air ambulance wasfinancially impossible, as no insur-ance company would cover the cost.

In stepped Angel Flight Europe(AFE), a charitable organisation thatarranges free, long-distance transportin non-emergency medical situations.Patients are usually flown by volun-teer private pilots who donate theirtime and use of their aircraft with nocharge made to the patient, insurancecompany, or anyone else. Two AFE

pilots, Peter Stevens of Switzerlandand Robin Lough of the UK, teamedup to fly Todd and his parents back to the UK for treatment. Peter flewhis Cessna Centurion to Ancona inItaly, picked up the family andbrought them back to his home baseairport in Grenchen, Switzerland.There they were met by Robin in hisPiper Aztec, who transferred themsafely back to Bournemouth.

“We were overjoyed to have babyTodd back in England where wecould get the medical help and familysupport that we so desperatelyneeded,” said Amanda Brake. “Assoon as we took off from Ancona,a great weight was lifted off ourshoulders, ending months of frustra-tion and anxiety.”

Transporting Todd and his family wasAFE’s first mission. A similar organi-sation in the US, Angel Flight, hasoperated for more than 25 years.In 2003, it flew 15,000 missions andtransported over 30,000 people whoneeded medical care. Typical candi-dates for AFE transport include cancerpatients, sufferers of rare diseases anddisabled people. It also transportsmedical staff to patients or workshops,transfers donated organs, reunitesfamily members and brings childrenand teenagers to summer camps.

AFE has national organisers inFrance, Greece, Italy, Switzerland,and the UK, and has over 46 pilotvolunteers ready to fly missions fromSwitzerland and the UK. It is now

Angels of mercy

G E T T I N G I N V O LV E D

If you would like to help as a pilotor with other duties, or you knowof patients who could use AFE’sservices, please get in touch via thewebsite:www.angelflight-europe.org

actively recruiting pilots in othercountries and publicising its servicesto groups of patients who might beable to use its services.

Now, Swissport has agreed to sponsorAFE by offering free handling at all170 Swissport facilities worldwideand providing contacts with airlinesand corporate aviation companies.Swissport’s Stephan Beerli is more

than happy to help out. “I am de-lighted to offer AFE our support andcooperation, as it already has a solidrecord of achievement. We hope thatthe idea of charitable air transporta-tion for medical treatment becomesmore prominent in Europe, too.”

Peter Stevens, President of AFE,is equally happy to have Swissport onboard. “We are very pleased thatSwissport has decided to support ouractivities. Handling services offeredby Swissport will directly benefit AFEpatients en route to medical care.Swissport will also help build supportfor our initiative in the aviation com-munity and beyond.”

Kim Winter

Left: Baby Todd en route to England. Right: Grateful parents Amanda and David with AFE pilots Peter Stevens (second from left) and Robin Lough (far right) at Grenchen.

S U P P O R T I N G T H E U S T H I F O U N D AT I O N

In addition to the team at Angel Flight, my Swissport Switzerland col-leagues already have close connections with the Usthi Foundation India(UFI), a charity that operates a variety of children’s programmes.

I am delighted to say that thanks to a variety of special fundraising actionsover the past two years, Swissport has contributed more than CHF 25,000(US$ 19,500) to the foundation – a contribution that has paid for a year’sworth of food, education and medical care for 70 children in India.

As a UFI board member, and on behalf of the entire UFI family, I wouldlike to sincerely thank Swissport management and staff for this tremendousand continued support. I shall personally make sure every single SwissFranc goes directly to helping improve the lives of our 940 Usthi kids.

During my last visit to Calcutta in October 2003, I had the privilege of see-ing once again the happy smiles of so many grateful children.Such gratitudeonly serves to highlight how important these efforts are and I will certainlyendeavour to grow this special Usthi-Swissport love affair.See www.usthi.chfor more details.

Simon Widmer

“Handling services offered bySwissport will directly benefit AFEpatients en route to medical care.”

Peter Stevens


P R O D U C T

Swissport’s new aviation securityoperation, Checkport, has a historyof using cutting edge technology toimprove its document verificationprocesses – and save airlines mon-ey at the same time.

Checkport eyes biometricsecurity solutions

With immigration authorities aroundthe world now imposing fines on air-lines for each passenger that arrives ata destination without the necessarydocumentation, Checkport has accel-erated its research into developingever more efficient methods of docu-ment verification.

Even on some flights today,passengerdocuments are photocopied, with thepapers kept until the arrival of theflight at its destination.

In the beginning, we started lookingfor methods of scanning and storingpassport page images to provide toimmigration authorities at each desti-

nation. This can be achieved by stor-ing the data locally or on a CD-Rom,with data then sent electronically orhanded over to the flight crew on theCD.

cord manually in a travel agency orover the internet.

There are also systems that can detectforged documents,although a computersystem can never really replace the sixthsense of a person screening and profil-ing a passenger for forged documents orsuspicious motives for travel.

Moving to a higher-level still, Check-port’s next step is to evaluate and, intime, implement biometric systems toimprove the overall security of anairline’s operation. This kind of fast-track technology – essentially identi-fication through physical characteris-tics such as finger prints and retinalscans – has the added advantage ofgiving the passenger more time toreach their flights than conventionalverification processes.

Our approach here is not just to placea biometric solution on top of anexisting process: instead, we are re-building the whole passenger han-dling and security process with thegoal of improving passenger comfortand reducing costs for the airline.

As such, Checkport plans to begin apilot programme at Zürich Airport be-fore the end of the year that will high-light the various benefits offered bybiometric technology supported sys-tems. Again, the focus will be not onlyon improving security processes, butalso the wider needs of the flying public.

Rico Barandun

C O N TA C T

For further information, contact:

Louis Seliner (CEO)louis.seliner@checkport. info

Rico Barandun (Technology)[email protected]

New technologies will play a vital role in future document and passenger verification systems.

Of course, data protection is some-thing Checkport takes very seriously,which is why all data is encrypted andonly accessible by a limited numberof employees. In addition, all data iserased locally after a period of timedepending on a country’s specificdata protection law.

While implementing the first scannersystems in Africa and running pilotprogrammes in Switzerland, Check-port discovered that the documentscanning solutions could do far morethan simply scan and store the docu-ments. It was also possible to collectthe APIS data and send it via SITA oremail to the relevant immigrationauthorities. In addition, it was alsopossible to check the validity of pass-ports and the entry regulations to adestination automatically – a pointthat can save airlines a lot of money.

A further benefit is the ability to preventany passenger currently on an airlineor immigration authority blacklistfrom boarding an aircraft. After all,

the use of a passport scanner drama-tically increases the rate of pinpointingthose on a blacklist as the passenger’sreal name is checked – not just thename entered into a reservation re-

Data protection is somethingCheckport takes very seriously, which

is why all data is encrypted andonly accessible by a limited number of

employees.


will not be making direct contact withall 521 of our respondents, but we willbe following up a number of the pointsand suggestions made. This is especial-ly so with the more critical commentswhere we will initiate action to effectthe improvements required.

As we do so, we will take particularnote of the remarks our respondentsmade regarding the appearance, be-haviour and customer-orientation ofour Swissport personnel. This is, afterall, the place at which the strongestimpressions will be formed of our com-pany as a whole. Just “good” or “satis-factory” can never be enough if wetruly want to be the industry’s leadingground handler:an “excellent”rating iswhat we all want to achieve.

We are well aware, of course, that noteverything can be perfect in a serviceindustry like ours with its hundreds of

What does the industry think ofSwissport and its products andservices? What are our strengthsand where is there room forimprovement? It was our wish tofind answers to these questionsand more that prompted us to con-duct a recent comprehensive cus-tomer survey.

First, why undertake a survey? Giventhe hectic pace at which the airlineindustry is evolving, it is good to stepback now and then to gain a broaderperspective of where we stand andwhere we are heading. It provides va-luable time to examine the finer detailsof what we do and how we do it.

After all, nothing lasts forever: changeis our constant and steady companioneverywhere we look.And most changehappens gradually, not suddenly fromone day to the next. It was theseconsiderations that prompted Swiss-port to take the industry pulse onceagain and conduct a new extensivesurvey of its customers around theworld, as we had last done three yearsago.

First of all, we would like to say a bigthank-you to the 521 customer con-tacts that replied electronically to our

survey inquiries.This is a response rateof 31% – a clear sign to us of the valueour customers attach to having achance to be heard.

Our survey not only extended to allcontinents and destinations whereSwissport has an active presence, butalso put the spotlight on our variousproducts and business lines. We alsotook great care to approach not onlyour local station manager partners,butalso key decision-makers at our cus-tomers’ head offices. And, last but notleast, we made a deliberate effort toobtain a representative mix of re-sponses from large, medium-sized andsmaller airline customers.

Learning into practiceSwissport will now be processing thevarious replies received in great detailand draw appropriate conclusions overthe coming weeks. Needless to say, we

G L O B A L C U S T O M E R S U R V E Y

Open eyes, ears… and minds

excellent

good

satisfactory

unsatisfatory

poor

no answer

12.3%

57.0%

19.6%

2.1% 0.4%

H O W W O U L D Y O U D E S C R I B E S W I S S P O R T I N T E R - N A T I O N A L A S A G R O U N D H A N D L I N G P A R T N E R ?

8.6%

70% of respondents described Swissport as an “excellent” or a “good” groundhandler.

excellent

good

satisfactory

unsatisfatory

poor

no answer

36.5%

16.9%

3.5% 0.8%4.0%

38.4%

P E R S O N A L C O N TA C T W I T H Y O U R L O C A L S W I S S P O R T

Only 4.3% of respondents felt that their personal contacts with their Swissport partnerwere “unsatisfactory” or “poor”.

excellent

good

satisfactory

unsatisfatory

poor

no answer

24.8%

52.2%

16.3%

3.1%0.2%

3.5%

T H E I R P E R S O N A L K N O W L E D G E A N D S K I L L S

Swissport obtained its best rating of all in the “knowledge and skills” category.


A N D T H E W I N N E R S A R E …

As a sign of our appreciation for completing the survey, respondents werepicked at random to receive a special ‘thank you’ prize.

The following have each won a traditional Swiss clock:■ Jose Marinho, TAP Air Portugal■ Heinz Vogeli, Cargologic■ Lancelot Coutinho, Zanair■ Kitty Kreutzer, Finnair■ Willem van Roozendaal, KLM Cargo■ Andrew Tan Han Wei, Singapore Airlines■ Saleh Stambuli, KLM■ Hisato Shiraishi, Nippon Cargo Airlines■ Takeshi Kobayakawa, ANA■ Stefan Prahlow, HLF■ Mounifa Hussein, Middle East Airlines■ Elisabeth Harasta, Malev■ Frank Schroeter, EAE■ Lorant Limburger, Malev■ Thierry Verbeke, El Al■ Andrew Morch, KLM Cargo■ Ghislain Houemavo, KLM■ Hans-Michael Damm, Lufthansa■ Gyorgy Matyasy, Malev■ Audene Barlow, Cathay Pacific■ Katerina Tziourtzioti, Olympic Airways

And the following have won for their carrier a free aircraft turnaround:■ Fehime Ashtyani, Pegasus Airlines■ Kou-Koung Wu, China Airlines■ Jan Lalkens, Sky Europe■ Mike Lee, China Airlines■ Themis Angelopoulos, MEA■ Bengt Jarfelt, SAS■ Charlotte Andersson, Malmo Aviation■ Brian Bailey, Club 328■ Louis Wagner, Cargolux■ Willy Weyermann, Saudi Airlines


thousands of customer contacts. Butwe still need to aim as high as wepossibly can.

The best grades (i. e. the greatest levels of customer satisfaction) in theSwissport network were achieved in:

■ Switzerland (80% “excellent” or“good”)

■ Europe (66% “excellent” or“good”)

■ North America (62% “excellent”or “good”)

And the biggest potential for im-provement seems to be in:

■ Africa (40% "satisfactory")■ Central America and Caribbean

(34% "satisfactory")

But, what else did our respondentstell us? Here is a selection of thefurther comments we received:

■ 63% said that Swissport’s speedand efficiency were “excellent”or “good”

■ 61% said that Swissport’s abilityto address carriers’ needs was“excellent” or “good”


G L O B A L C U S T O M E R S U R V E Y

Franchising/joint ventures

Outsourcing

Global/regional packagesWith a sole provider for each stationAd-hoc, depending on each station's needs

10.9%

23.2%

24.7%

36.4%

4.8%

YOUR PREFERRED METHOD OF WORKING WITH US?

Almost a quarter of our respondents would be happy to conclude agreements coveringglobal or regional service packages.

A full range of ground handling servicesSpecial product features and competitive advantagesFlexibility and tailor-made solutionsQuality and reliabilityAttractive pricesIncentive modelsPersonal contacts and “chemistry” with the partnerProfessional key account management (key contact person) and head-office back-up

6.2%

1.9%

9.7%

35.1%

25.2%

2.2%

9.7

9.9

W H AT A R E T H E T W O M O S T I M P O R TA N T C R I T E R I A F O R Y O U I N Y O U R C H O I C E O F A G R O U N D H A N D L I N G PA R T N E R ?

Interestingly, fewer than 10% felt that the “chemistry” factor was the key criterion in choosing their ground handler.

And finally: thank you! We greatlyappreciate our respondents’ open-ness and directness in telling us what they think of Swissport and itsproducts and services; and we will,of course, treat all replies with theconfidentiality they demand anddeserve.

The responses we received really area great help to everyone concerned:to your airline and your passengers,because they help us further enhanceour services; and to our collaborationwith you, since they enable us tobetter understand and respect yourpriorities and tailor our activitiesaccordingly.

So, is it back to business as usual?Far from it. We now intend to buildon the foundation that our latestcustomer survey has provided to intensify our dialogue withcustomers.

And we would like to start thatprocess here and now, by thankingyou once again for participating:we really do appreciate it.

Stephan Beerli

ORIG INAL CUSTOMER STATEMENTS

■ “Our impression of Swissport is very much balanced to the negativeside because of London Heathrow. However, there is new manage-ment there … and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt.”

■ “Ground handling services (ramp and cleaning) are at different levelsaround the world – global quality control is needed for more consis-tent service. Also, you should have a global programme manager forsmaller customers.”

■ “Our wishes: transparency on prices and methods of calculation.Also,prices linked to performance.”

■ “Swissport does an excellent job in Los Angeles.”

■ “Top management … very strongly supportive and effective. I hope your individual representatives can work more effectively at each station.”

■ “I prefer to see more initiatives from local management … to visit us regularly and discuss any improvement plans and innovations.”

■ “Ramp handling in Germany would be great! Swissport should also offer a low-cost operation.”

■ “Overall, Swissport is a very good handling agent. I have nothing to complain about and would definitely recommend you to other air-lines.”

■ “I wish to personally express my gratitude to the Geneva staff ofSwissport who have provided excellent support for my needs.”

■ “I want Swissport to have more share in the markets of Africa and the Middle East.”

■ “For lost and found baggage it would help if stations received a for-warding message when passengers’ bags miss connections so that theycan be advised on arrival.”

excellent

good

satisfactory

unsatisfatory

poor

no answer

52.8%

26.5%

4.4%0.8%

4.0%

11.5%

R E L I A B I L I T Y A N D O V E R A L L Q U A L I T Y

Meanwhile, 91% of respondents described our reliability and quality as “satisfactory”to “excellent”.


With the passenger version of theA380 due into service in 2006,ground support equipment prep-arations are in full swing. Butwhat will it mean for ground han-dling fleet inventories?

After the hype, now the reality: thepassenger version of the A380 isscheduled to start service in undertwo years and the ground supportindustry has to be ready. The firstthree flying A380s are currently onthe Jean-Luc Lagardère final assemblyline in Toulouse. The electrical power-on of the first flying aircraft, recentlycompleted, is one of three key mile-stones prior to the aircraft’s first flightin early 2005. Hydraulic and enginepowering up will follow later this year.

Watching the clock with particularinterest will be those gateway airportspreparing to accommodate the A380’s12 launch customers, including Singa-pore Airlines, Lufthansa, Emirates

Airlines and Qantas Airways. How-ever, in addition to airfield and pas-senger terminal modifications, pre-paratory work will also be needed onthe ramp where the sheer size andweight of the A380 – roughly a 30%increase on today’s B747-400 – willrequire some changes in ground sup-port equipment (GSE).

Of all the major items of GSE,groundhandlers can expect change in threemain areas:aircraft tractors,high load-ers and deicing trucks.Handlers will berelieved, however, that manufacturershave responded to their need for flexi-ble equipment that offers low life-cycle costs and value for money.

Above all, GSE manufacturers haveput an emphasis on evolution ratherthan revolution. “Really, the changesare not very significant,” is the reas-suring message from Gene Johnson,Business Development MarketingManager at FMC. “We are taking a

rational approach and just upgradingin a lot of instances.”

According to Thomas Burger, SeniorMarketing Analyst A380 at Airbus,industry input gathered from an earlystage in the A380 programme hasfundamentally shaped the aircraft,with one of the main drivers being to minimise the requirements for spe-cialised GSE.As such, servicing pointlocations, main and lower deck sillheights and interfaces are all similarto existing wide-body aircraft.

And in those instances where modi-fied or new equipment is required,Airbus has established working groupsto facilitate communication to achieveoptimal design solutions.

Aircraft tractors The main challenge for aircraft trac-tors is, of course, the sheer mass of the A380. A maximum ramp weightof 562 tonnes (592 tonnes for thefreighter version) means that manu-facturers not only have to generatesufficient traction, but also design apowerful braking system.

And then there is the question ofwhich technology to use: traditionalaircraft tractors that utilise towbars,or a more sophisticated towbarlesssolution. Some manufacturers havebeen swayed by Airbus’s touting ofthe A380 as the first aircraft designedwith towbarless tractors in mind.

The downside is that the aircraft hasa more profound technical impact ontowbarless tractors – manufacturershave to generate more power and allow

for new nose-gear dimensions whendesigning the vehicle’s lifting cradle.

No matter, says French manufacturerTLD, which delivered the first of threeA380-compatible towbarless units toAirbus in March this year. The com-pany’s TPX-500S is now being used atAirbus’s Toulouse facility.

Meanwhile, German manufacturerGoldhofer has been working on itsAST1X towbarless tractor – availablein three versions – designed specifi-cally to handle the A380. One unit isscheduled for delivery to Airbus’sHamburg facility in March next year,with a second unit following in theautumn.

G R O U N D O P E R AT I O N S

Countdown to the A380

The A380 and A380F - on track for EIS

EarlyEarly20052005

FirstFirstFlightFlight

2nd 2nd QtrQtr20062006

EntryEntry IntoIntoServiceService

2nd 2nd QtrQtr20042004

Final Final assemblyassemblystartstart

A380A380

MidMid20072007

FirstFirstFlightFlight

MidMid20082008

EntryEntry IntoIntoServiceService

MidMid20042004

DesignDesignFreezeFreeze

3rd 3rd QtrQtr20062006

Final Final assemblyassembly

startstart

A380FA380F

Main Main componentcomponent

Assembly startAssembly start

EndEnd20052005

FA S T F I G U R E S

■ The A380 will be the world’s first twin-deck, four aisle aircraft. The initialpassenger version will accommodate 555 passengers

■ The aircraft has a fuselage diameter of 7.14 metres, a length of 73 metresand wingspan of 79.8 metres

■ To date,Airbus has received firm orders and commitments for 133 aircraft,including 17 freighter versions.

This overlay graphic (right) shows both a B747 and A380 together with a standard FMCTempest deicer. As can be seen, the existing deicer has sufficient reach to deice the wingand fuselage (graphic: FMC/Airbus) of either aircraft. It is only the vertical stabilizerthat requires an extended boom reach.

Inside, the A380 will offer the best in passenger comfort.

O N T R A C K F O R S E R V I C E D AT E


Goldhofer has designed the AST1Xwith three axles rather than the usual two. “This will help distribute theweight and the power to reduce thepressure footprint on the ground,”explains Carsten Schimkat, Head ofSales,Airport Technology at Goldhofer.

The tractor will be more expensive thanother models, but is designed to handleseveral types of aircraft. “It will besuitable for use with all wide-bodiedaircraft,”says Schimkat.“This,we think,justifies the slightly higher cost.”

Such multi-functionality is a commontheme: FMC is revamping its existingtowbarless tractor line and marketing itunder the name Expediter. The com-

pany’s A380 compatible Expediter 600prototype will be ready in Madrid bythe end of this year.

According to Nick Heemskerk, Prod-uct Development Manager, the liftingcradle on FMC’s existing Expediter 400could hold an A380 nose wheel,but it isa tight fit. “It would also not be able tocope with the freighter version of theA380, so we decided to upgrade andcreate a 600 version,” he explains.

FMC has retained as much common-ality as possible within the series andHeemskerk says the 600 will be alowmaintenance workhorse that pro-vides an economical way of movingseveral different aircraft.

Others have taken a different route.After consultation with potential cus-tomers, Germany’s Schopf believesthe market will respond better toflexible conventional tractors, ratherthan investing in tailored towbarlessequipment. As such, the manufacturerhas introduced its 70-tonne F396 con-ventional tractor that it says will beable to handle the A380 in all condi-tions. The tractor has provided towand pushback services for Antonov225 freighters – an aircraft of similarweight to the A380 – and Schopf hasalready supplied more than 15 unitsto the market.

Design challengesConsiderable design attention hasalso been focussed on aircraft con-tainer and pallet loading. Earlier thisyear, FMC introduced its Comman-der 15i – an upgrade of an existingC15 loader – which it says will be able

to service the lower lobe of the A380without further modification.

However, the freighter version of theA380, which enters service in 2008,poses a greater challenge.The aircraftwill have three decks: a lower lobe (as per the passenger version), a maindeck and an upper deck.

Although Airbus has only receivedfirm orders for 17 aircraft to date,launch carriers will still expect goodloading and unloading speed, par-ticularly to and from the main deck.As such, FMC is designing a newloader – known as the Commander xr– which it says will provide speedyaccess to the main deck and secure

servicing of the upper deck thanks toa three-platform load concept.

Less work has been needed on deic-ing preparations: fortunately, the fuse-lage and horizontal stabiliser of theA380 are only a metre or so higherthan the B747, while the wingtips are,again, only slightly higher.

However, the 24-metre highest sprayheight on the aircraft’s vertical sta-biliser – some 30 feet higher than theB747 – remains a considerable chal-lenge. Although some manufacturershave existing vehicles that put the oper-ator at a dizzying height of 15.5 metres,the design of an additional extendedreach boom may still be required.

In addition, with a surface area twicethat of the B747, questions remainabout whether operators should useone large truck to deice the aircraft orseveral smaller trucks. Heemskerk atFMC believes that several trucks areneeded. “There is only so much thatone operator can spray at a timewhich leads to questions about holdover time. An operator might finishthe job just in time to start again,” hesays.

As such, the FMC approach is toincrease the number of deicers thatwork on the aircraft at any one time.For instance, four or five standard dei-cers could work on the majority of the aircraft with just one specialised

vehicle – equipped with an extendedboom – working on the tail.

Such a solution would mean that oper-ators only have to buy one specialisedvehicle,although they might still needto procure additional conventionaltrucks and endure greater congestionon the ground around the aircraft.

It is just one of the many issues theindustry will have to tackle as theclock ticks down to the A380’s his-toric arrival.

Richard Rowe

G R O U N D O P E R AT I O N S

GSE manufacturers have put an emphasis on evolution rather

than revolution.


■ S O U T H A F R I C A

Avscan becomesCheckport

On 1 May, Checkport South Africawas born following the acquisition bySwissport International of a majorityshare in the Protectas Aviation Secu-rity group. In South Africa, Check-port was previously known as Avscan,a company well known as a specialistin document verification and passen-ger profiling.

Of course, growth is the most im-portant issue with the birth of a newbaby and Checkport South Africa hasalready spread its wings into the phys-ical aviation security sector. Staffnumbers have grown almost 70% toenable Checkport to perform ware-house security for Swissport CargoServices (SCS) at its Johannesburgwarehouses.

SCS is a prestigious launch customerand accounts for more than 45% of all cargo handled at Johannesburg.Further projects are currently beingtendered for and should be finalisedin the coming months.

Sean Kinsey

■ USA

Islip fuels networkdevelopment

Swissport has taken over all fuellingand other commercial services atIslip, New York from Long Island JetCenter (LIJC), the primary FixedBase Operator at the airport.

Islip’s MacArthur Airport has devel-oped into a major reliever station for

the metropolitan New York area.Southwest Airlines, in particular, hasled the way by making a major com-mitment to the airport with thefunding of a new terminal. In themeantime, the other carriers thatserve Islip – USAir Express, Con-tinental Express,American Eagle andComair – will continue to operatefrom the existing terminal. Southwest

currently operates 24 flights per day,while the other carriers combinedoperate 25 daily departures.When theterminal is completed, Southwestexpects to operate upwards of 45flights per day, which may motivatethe other carriers to increase theiractivity as well.

The Islip fuelling operation will bemanaged by Jimmy Smith, who hastransferred from Swissport’s Phoenixstation. In addition to providing allinto-plane services, Swissport willmanage the only fuel storage systemon the airport.

Finally, Swissport will also provideprimary deicing services to severalcarriers and serve in a back-upcapacity for Southwest and USAirExpress, which currently providetheir own deicing services.

Erich Bodenmann

■ G E R M A N Y

Hijack drama at Munich

Swissport personnel in Munich wereinvolved in a frightening incident thissummer when a customer airline’sA320 aircraft was faced with a poten-tially dangerous hijack situation.

The flight, on route to Istanbul, re-turned to Munich shortly after takeoff following a bomb threat made byone of the 150 passengers on board.Of course, the alert was sounded onthe ground, with various police forces,the airport authority and Swissportpersonnel all standing by.

A few minutes after ‘on blocks’, thefront door of the aircraft opened andthe suspected hijacker was pushedout by another passenger. The policehad requested that no stairs shouldbe made available, which meant thatthe hijacker was seriously injuredwhen falling to the apron.

At this point, the police did not knowif more potential hijackers wereinvolved; as such, all forces remainedalert as the passengers were off-loaded and escorted to a secure, off-site terminal. Over the coming hours,the aircraft and all passengers werescreened and interviewed by theauthorities, although no bomb wasdiscovered.

For its part, Swissport was involvedin all manner of planning includingsetting up a command post in theoperations office and allocatingsupervisors both at the aircraft andinside the terminal. Swissport wasalso on hand to communicate withthe authorities, the customer carrierat head office and also take care ofthe passengers.

After several hours of investigationthe aircraft and passengers were freeto resume the flight.All but five of thepassengers wished to fly and the air-craft took off again in the early hoursof the morning.

The entire evening shift of SwissportMunich remained on duty to handlethis delicate situation and their conductwas outstanding from start to finish.

Peter Mayer

■ B R A Z I L

First year celebrationswith GOL

In late August, Swissport Brasil cele-brated the end of a successful firstyear of operations handling Brazilianlow-cost carrier GOL at four loca-tions: Porto-Alegre, Florianopolis,Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro’s SantosDumond Airport.

Together with GOL personnel, localSwissport staff at each station organ-ised a series of celebrations that in-cluded barbeques and, of course, asoccer game. “This is an important,forward-looking integration for thestaff of both companies and the

S W I S S P O R T W O R L D W I D E

Network News and ViewsNetwork News and Views

Swissport’s new fuelling team at Islip.

Swissport and GOL have enjoyed anexcellent first year of operations together.


informal environment helped tostrengthen friendship,” commentsLician Mello, CEO Swissport Brasil.

Results at the four stations after 12months of hard work have beenextremely encouraging. “A partner-ship that aims for quality and excel-lence is bringing better results eachand every day,” believes Tarcísio Gar-gioni, VP of Marketing and Services,GOL. “This work has contributedstrongly to our success.”

Having handled 3,178 flights permonth nationwide in 2003, Swissporthas handled a remarkable 5,812months for the year to date thanks toits growing partnership with GOL.Thanks largely to GOL’s success inthe market,Swissport Brasil forecasts40% growth for its operations in thecountry this year.

To better meet the coming challenges,Swissport Brasil and GOL are nowimplementing a joint training pro-gramme focused on operational andsecurity procedures.

Graziela Gargioni

Rising to the Olympicchallenge

As a major player at Athens Inter-national Airport, Swissport Hellashandled a huge amount of incomingpassengers and cargo for its presti-gious airline clients during Augustand is proud to have been part ofwhat proved a very successful OlympicGames in Athens.

Phil McGrane, Swissport’s GeneralManager & CEO, believes the suc-cessful operation can be attributed towhat was at least two years prepara-tion work together with all airportpartners. “By providing a seamlesstravel experience for all passengers,we hope to encourage them to returnto Greece to enjoy the delights of thecountry and, of course, its super im-proved infrastructure, transport andsporting/conference centre facilities.”

Swissport Hellas handled 1,650 flightsduring August – a leap of 22% on thesame month last year – and retainedan impressive on-time performanceof 98.9%.

In addition to regular scheduledcustomers such as British Airways,Delta Air Lines and Emirates, Swiss-port Hellas also handled a variety ofOlympic charter aircraft as well asoffering a special ‘off-terminal’ check-inservice for members of the Olympicteams.

The Swissport unit also demonstratedits prowess in cargo handling when ittook care of 23 special freighter flightsthat transported all of the horses –more than 300 in total – that competed

in the equestrian event at the fantasticnew facilities in Markopoulo.

And the work has not stopped since:at the time of writing, the SwissportHellas team is busy working with theathletes and spectators involved inthis year’s Paralympics, also beingheld in Athens.

Yannis Zermas

■ P E O P L E

Swissport announcesnew CFO

Swissport International has strength-ened its financial management withthe appointment of Clive Dolman asGroup Chief Financial Officer (CFO)and a member of the Executive Man-agement from September 1.

Dolman has worked as a consultantto the Swissport Group for two years,providing advice on various acquisi-tion and outsourcing projects. Prior to that, he served as CFO of SAirServices,a division of the SAir Group,and CFO of OBS Services, a Candover-led management buy-out of a cateringlogistics business acquired by theSAir Group in 1997.

Andreas Bühlmann, Group ChiefFinancial Officer for the past fiveyears, remains part of the ExecutiveManagement of Swissport Interna-tional with responsibilities for thegroup reporting and accounting func-tion.

Stephan Beerli

■ L AT I N A M E R I C A

Latin American venturescontinue growth

Swissport’s three joint ventures in Peru,Honduras and Bolivia – conductedtogether with GBH Investments, aPeruvian holding company – have en-joyed outstanding growth in recentmonths on both the passenger and car-go sides of the business.

Swissport first launched its opera-tions in Peru in 1998 by acquiring a 49% interest in local air cargo

services company Serlipsa CargoCenter. Since then, Swissport GBHPeru has expanded its range of activ-ities to offer ramp services in 1999,passenger services in 2003 and, mostrecently, executive aviation han-dling.

At the same time, the joint ventureexplored opportunities elsewhere in the region. In 2000, and togetherwith San Francisco Airports andPortugal’s Soares de Acosta, theventure was awarded a contract toprovide cargo handling services atHonduras’s four international air-ports under the name SwissportGBH Honduras. Tonnage handledhas grown an impressive 14% duringthe first quarter of 2004 and expec-tations remain high for the rest of theyear.

Elsewhere, in 2002, Swissport GBHPeru joined Swiss company CotecnaInspection Services to secure a bidcalled by the Bolivian National Cus-toms service for operating bondedwarehouses and cargo terminals attwo airports, five border points andthree major cities in Bolivia.

Since January 2003, Swissport GBHCotecna Bolivia has also providedcargo handling services at theCochabamba and Santa Cruz air-ports and the cities of La Paz andOruro among other localities inBolivia.This year, the Bolivian oper-ations have enjoyed revenue growthof 121% during the first quarter of2004 compared with the same periodlast year.

Alberto Huby

S W I S S P O R T W O R L D W I D E

News Ticker✈

✈ B U S I N E S S D E V E L O P M E N T I S R A E L

Swissport has formed a joint venture company together with fourinvestors – CAL Cargo Airlines, Dankner Investments, Laufer Aviationand Flying Cargo – to perform cargo handling services at Israel’s Tel AvivInternational Airport. New terminal facilities will now be constructed andit is planned for the joint venture, Swissport Cargo Services Israel, to enterthe market in early 2007.

S O U T H A F R I C ASwissport South Africa has secured several new contracts at its

Johannesburg station: Precision Air, Trans Air Congo (ramp handling);Nationwide Cargo, Yemen Airways (ramp and passenger handling); andRegional Air Cargo (cargo handling).

G E R M A N YEffective August 1, Swissport Cargo Services (SCS) Germany

concluded a landmark contract with Dragonair for cargo handling at 43 airports throughout Europe. This is SCS’s largest European contractby far and covers cargo handling in Germany and 10 other Europeancountries.

✈ P U B L I C AT I O N SSwissport’s new Ground Handling Booklets,Agreement 2004/1998

are now available for order via www.swissport.com (media, orders & sub-scriptions).

✈ M I L E S T O N ES W I T Z E R L A N DSwissport Basel celebrated its 10th anniversary on July 1 with an

all-day staff barbeque. While the landmark birthday is cause for celebra-tion in its own right, the Basel station also has the accolade of being the firstground handling unit of what was then the Swissair Group to be rolled outas a stand-alone ground handling entity.

✈ C E R T I F I C AT I O N SCSC de Mexico SA has become the first ex-CSC cargo station to be

ISO certified for cargo operations. It is also the first station in the Swiss-port network to be ISO certified by the Swissport Operations & Qualitydepartment under the authorisation received from TUV. Congratulationsfor the fine work to all involved in Mexico and the Quality Managers atSwissport International.

Healthy horses thanks to Swissport.

S A D F

H E A D O F F I C ESwissport International Ltd., Joseph In Albon,President & CEO, P.O. Box, CH-8058 Zürich-Airport, [email protected],tel. +41 43 812 2779, fax +41 1 811 1001

Swissport International Ltd., Clive Dolman,Group CFOP.O. Box, CH-8058 Zürich-Airport, [email protected],tel. +41 43 812 9413, fax +41 1 811 1001

Swissport International Ltd., Simon Lehmann, EVP Commercial (Sales)P.O. Box, CH-8058 Zü[email protected]. +41 43 812 2314, fax +41 1 811 10 01

A S I A / M I D D L E E A S T /A F R I C ASwissport International Ltd., Dr. Ludwig Bertsch, EVP Asia, Middle East, Africa & Cargo,P.O. Box, CH-8058 Zürich-Airport,[email protected],tel. +41 43 812 2694, fax +41 1 811 1001

I S R A E LQ.A.S. – Quality Airport Services, Yossi Raviv,President & CEO, P.O. Box 136,Ben Gurion International Airport 70100, Israel,[email protected],tel. +972 3 972 7777, fax +972 3 972 7772

K E N YASwissport Kenya, Jeroen de Clercq, CEO,Jomo Kenyatta Intl. Airport/Nairobi Cargo Center,P.O. Box 19177, 00501 Embakasi Nairobi,Kenya, [email protected],tel. +254 20 823 328, fax +254 20 824 754

T H E P H I L I P P I N E SMiascor, Juan C. Paraiso III, President & CEO,Citadel Holdings, Inc., 4/F, SGV II Bldg. 6758Ayala Avenue, Makati City,The Philippines, [email protected],tel. +63 2 851 9647, fax +63 2 851 9680

S O U T H A F R I C ASwissport South Africa (Pty) Ltd.,Fernand Stauffer, President & CEO,P.O. Box 5511, Johannesburg Intl. Airport 1620,South Africa, [email protected],tel. +27 11 928 8527, fax +27 11 928 8541

TA N Z A N I ADAHACO, Gaudence K. Temu, Vice President,P.O. Box 18043, Dar es Salaam Intl. Airport,Tanzania, [email protected],tel. +255 22 284 4610/14, fax +255 22 284 4343

EUROPE & SWITZERLANDSwissport International Ltd., Urs Sieber, EVPDivision Europe & Switzerland, P.O. Box,CH-8058 Zürich-Airport, [email protected],tel. +41 43 812 23 10, fax +41 1 811 10 01

S W I T Z E R L A N DBaselSwissport Basel AG, Stefan Resele,President & CEO, P.O. Box, CH-4030 Basel-Airport, [email protected],tel. +41 61 3252300, fax +41 61 325 23 07

GenevaSwissport Genève SA, Ernest Hochuli, President& CEO, P.O. Box 776, CH-1215 Geneva-Airport, [email protected],tel. +41 22 799 30 10, fax +41 22 799 31 67

ZürichSwissport Zürich AG, Marcel Hungerbühler,President & CEO, P.O. Box, CH-8058 Zürich-Airport, [email protected],tel. +41 43 812 6170, fax +41 43 812 9195

A U S T R I ASwissport Austria GmbH, Renate Mackay,General Manager, World Trade Center Top112, 1300 Vienna, Austria,[email protected],tel. +43 1 7007 35521, fax +43 1 7007 35523

B E L G I U MSwissport Cargo Services Belgium, Patrick Minsart, General Manager, BrucargoBuilding 721, 1931 Zaventem, Belgium,[email protected],tel. +32 2 753 0510, fax +32 2 753 0519

F R A N C ESwissport France, Jean-Didier Savioz,President & CEO, Immeuble Communica,455, Promenade des Anglais, 06299 NiceCedex 3, France, [email protected],tel. +33 4 9229 4452, fax +33 4 9229 4451

G E R M A N YSwissport Deutschland GmbH, Hans-Rudolf Moser, GM Ground Handling, Germany, [email protected],Wanheimerstr. 45, 40472 Düsseldorf, Germanytel. +49 211 43 71 3110, fax +49 211 43 71 3111

Swissport Cargo Services Deutschland GmbH,Heath White, General Manager Cargo Services,Cargo City Süd, Building 558C,60549 Frankfurt, Germany,[email protected],tel. +49 69 219 7970, fax +49 69 219 79799

S.Stuttgart Ground Services GmbH, Klaus Knöpfle, General Manager, Flughafen Stuttgart, P.O. Box 230411, 70624Stuttgart, Germany, [email protected],tel. +49 711 948 2900, fax +49 711 948 2901

G R E E C ESwissport Hellas S.A., Phil McGrane,General Manager, Athens International Airport“Eleftherios Venizelos”, 19019 Spata, Greece,[email protected],tel. +30 210 353 7256, fax +30 210 353 7821

Swissport Hellas Cargo, Alex Panokis, Opera-tions Manager, Athens International Airport“Eleftherios Venizelos”, Cargo 3–4, Bldg 15A,19019 Spata, Greece, [email protected],tel. +30 210 354 3099, fax +30 210 354 3170

Swissport Hellas Sud, Georges Peter, GeneralManager, Airport Nikos Kazantzakis, 71601Heraklion, Crete, [email protected],tel. +30 281 0336 970, fax +30 281 0330 837

I TA LYSwissport Cargo Services Italy, Sergio Squeri,General Manager, Via R. Morandi 76, 20090Segrate, Italy, [email protected],tel. +39 02 2692 0271, fax +39 02 2692 0257

L U X E M B O U R GSwissport Cargo Services Luxembourg, Guy Ghysels, President & CEO, Cargo CenterWest/Findel Airport, 2889 Luxembourg,Luxembourg, [email protected], tel. +352 26 426 2703, fax +352 26 426 2702

N E T H E R L A N D SSwissport Cargo Services Holding BV,Wouter R. van Ginkel, Station ManagerHavenmeesterweg 55,1118 CB Schiphol, The Netherlands, [email protected] tel. +31 20 316 3004, fax +31 20 316 3005

P O L A N DSwissport Poland, Witold Michalowski, GeneralManager, Ul. Zwirki i Wiguri 1, 02-143 Warsaw,Poland, [email protected], tel. +48 22 650 4527, fax +48 22 650 3599

R U S S I ASwissport Cargo Services Russia, NataliaFeodorova, General Manager, Pilotov 32A,Aviagorrodok, St. Petersburg, Russia,[email protected], tel. +7 812 118 7591,fax +7 812 118 7591

S PA I NSwissport Handling S.A., Daniel Gut,President & CEO, C/Gran Via, 71-3a dcha.,28013 Madrid, Spain, [email protected],tel. +34 91 548 7631/32, fax +34 91 541 5955

T U R K E YHavas, Gürol Yüksel, General Manager & CEONurettin Oektem Sk. No. 2, 80260 Sisli-Istanbul,Turkey, [email protected], tel. +90 212 2332422/111, fax +90 212 233 38 53

U N I T E D K I N G D O MSwissport UK Ltd., Nigel Daniel, CEOGroundstar House, Freight VillageNewcastle upon Tyne, NE13 [email protected]. +44 191 214 8121, fax +44 191 214 8014

Swissport Cargo Services, Paul Arnold, General Manager Cargo ServicesBedfont Road, London Heathrow Airport, Staines,Middlesex, TW197NL, United Kingdom,[email protected],tel. +44 1784 266 660, fax +44 1784 266 262

C O N TA C T S

I M P R E S S U M

Published by:Corporate Communications,Swissport International Ltd.

Publisher:Stephan Beerli, Vice PresidentMarketing & Communications,Swissport International [email protected]

Editor:Richard [email protected] +44 (0) 131 476 8052

Swissport coordinator:Andrea [email protected]. +41 43 812 49 54fax +41 1 811 10 01

Contributors to this issue:J. In Albon, J. Van Anrooy,R. Barandun, S. Beerli, R. Beisel,Dr L. Bertsch, E. Bodenmann,G. Gargioni, A. George,J-E. Helder, A. Huby, S. Kinsey,S. Lehmann, P. Mayer, T. Nossent,R. Rowe, A. Seehafer, L. Seliner,U. Sieber, M. Smith, F. Staufer,H. White, K. Winter, Y. Zermas

Translations:Paul Day

Layout and printing:DAZ, Druckerei AlbisriedenZürich

Subscriptions:For a free subscription, pleasesend your full name and addressto the Swissreporter InformationDesk.

Changes of address:Please send details of any changeof address (by returning yourmailing label with the changesclearly indicated) and any othercorrespondence regarding sub-scriptions to the SwissreporterInformation Desk.

Printed in SwitzerlandCirculation 15,000

© 2004 Swissport InternationalLtd., Zürich-Airport, Switzerland

www.swissport.com

S W I S S P O R T A M E R I C A SSwissport Americas,Erich Bodenmann, EVP Division Americas,45025 Aviation Drive, Dulles, VA 20166, USA,[email protected],tel. +1 703 742 4301, fax +1 703 742 4321

A R G E N T I N ASwissport Argentina S.A.,Hugo Schreier, CEO, Intl. Airport Ezeiza, Suite 314Ministro Pistarini, 1802 Ezeiza, Buenos Aires,Argentina, [email protected],tel. +54 11 5480 4433, fax +54 11 5480 4431

B R A Z I LSwissport Brasil Ltda., Lician de Mello,CEO, Av. Vinte de Janeiro s/nr, Terminal 1-SetorAzul, Sala 1651A, RJ Pista CER 21941-970,Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, [email protected],tel. +55 21 3398 5934, fax +55 21 3398 5932

C A N A D ASwissport Canada Handling Inc., Erich Bodenmann, President, 6500 Silver DartDrive, Core G, Mississauga, Ontario L5P [email protected],tel. +1 703 742 4301, fax +1 703 742 4321

D O M I N I C A N R E P U B L I CSwissport Dominicana, Omar J. Azar, CEO,Avenida Independencia 1811, Santo Domingo,Dominican Republic, [email protected],tel. +1 809 508 2270, fax +1 809 508 6543

H O N D U R A SSwissport GBH Honduras, Luis Calderon Curo,General Manager & CEO, Nueva Terminal deCarga Of. 301, Apto. Internacional “RamónVilleda Morales”, San Pedro Sula, Honduras,[email protected],tel. +504 668 8880, fax +504 668 8884

M E X I C OAerocharter Swissport Servicios S.A. de C.V.,Norbert Bielderman, President & CEO, AntiguoCamino a Texcoco s/n, Col. Peñon de los Baños,C.P. 15520, Deleg. Venustiano Carranza,Mexico D.F., [email protected],tel. +52 55 5786 9500, fax: +52 55 5786 9507

N E T H E R L A N D A N T I L L E SSwissport Cargo Services Curaçao/Aruba,Gerhard Goselink, General Manager, Reina,Beatrix Airport, Cargo Building A, Aruba,[email protected],tel. +599 9868 2244, fax +599 9869 5890

P E R USwissport GBH Peru, Alfonso Garcia-Miro,President & CEO, Av. Elmer Faucett 4800Callao, Lima, Peru,[email protected],tel. +511 411 6800, fax +511 411 6820

U R U G U AYSwissport Uruguay, Eduardo Carneglia, CEOCarrasco International AirportUY-Montevideo, [email protected]. +59 89 2600 9254

U S ASwissport Fueling, Thomas F. Comeau,President, 45025 Aviation Drive, Suite 350,Dulles, VA 20166-7557, USA,[email protected],tel. +1 703 742 4392, fax +1 703 742 4388

Swissport Cargo Services, L.P., Erich Bodenmann,President, 45025 Aviation Drive, Dulles, VA20166, USA, [email protected],tel. +1 703 742 4301, fax +1 703 742 4321

Swissport CFE, Fred Campbell,President (ad interim), 4560 South Boulevard,Suite 202, Virginia Beach, VA 23452, USA,[email protected],tel. +1 757 490 2465, fax +1 757 490 2543

Hallmark Aviation Services, Philipp Huber,President, 5757 W. Century Blvd., Suite 860,Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA,[email protected],tel. +1 310 215 0701, fax +1 310 410 5362

V E N E Z U E L ASwissport Cargo Services Venezuela,Oscar Lehmann, General Manager, Ed. PascalTorre B Local 4B, Planta Baja, Av. RomuloGallegos, Santa Eduvigis Caracas, Venezuela,[email protected], tel. +58 212 285 4060,fax +58 212 285 8491

AV I AT I O N S E C U R I T YCheckport, Louis Seliner, CEO, P.O. Box, 8058 Zürich-Airport, Switzerland,[email protected], tel.+41 43 812 20 20, fax +41 43 1 811 10 01(Contact for Switzerland, CPT, DLA, JNB, LOS,SSG, YAO, PHC)

U L D M A N A G E M E N TUnitpool AG, Philip Hill, ManagingDirector, Steinackerstrasse 2,8302 Kloten, Switzerland, [email protected],tel. +41 43 255 4144, fax +41 43 255 4142

S W I S S P O R T E X E C U T I V EAV I AT I O NSwissport International Ltd., Alan George,VP Executive Aviation, P.O. Box, 8058 Zürich-Airport, Switzerland,[email protected],tel. +41 43 812 20 20, fax +41 1 811 10 01

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