Business Buzz
¦ VT Support Services (VT), a civil resilience, emergency, defense and aviation operator has announced a partnership with Eton College as part of the Engineering Education Scheme in England (EESE). The initiative will see a group of students from the college spend six months working alongside VT staff on real scientific, engineering and technological problems as a way of encouraging them to get involved in engineering. Twelve students and their teacher are currently working on a project investigating tire wear on airside vehicles at London’s Heathrow Airport, which aims to not only engage the students, but possibly bring benefits to VT’s business.
¦ WSI Corporation, a weather decision support provider in the aviation industry, announced the latest release of Hubcast™, featuring a new lightning alerting capability. The Internet-based service alerts ramp employees via SMS text message or e-mail of a lightning hazard without the need to install and maintain on-site sensors. When a strike is detected in either of the user-defined caution or warning ranges, Hubcast sends an alert to the mobile phones of employees indicating the range and bearing to the strike.
¦ The U.S. Department of Commerce has awarded AERO Specialties an Export Achievement Certificate to recognize the company’s tremendous growth in exporting U.S.-manufactured products.
¦ Swissport International has been named Global Ground Handling Services Company for 2009 by UK’s Institute of Transport Management (ITM). This is the ninth year in a row that Swissport has earned the ITM award.
¦ eTug LLC announced the availability of its new patent pending “eCart”TM Battery Baggage Cart for the eTug. The eCart enables the eTug to operate 24 hours a day without stopping to charge the eTug. eCarts charge independently of the eTug, using a standard 110v outlet.
¦ Thermoil Inc. announced the formation and opening of a new sales and distribution center based in the UK to service the European, South African and Australian markets. The UK center will have the ability to service customer requirements and ship both the Thermoil Battery De-Mister and Thermoil Battery De-Sulfater products from stock to all of the market areas it will serve.
¦ AirClic, a mobile applications provider, announced the expansion of its airline solutions to include cargo, baggage, airport services and aircraft services. The expansion is a result of the company’s recent success in working with airline partners to bring mobile solutions to industry leaders such as Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines and British Airways.
¦ Kilfrost announced it had been awarded the export award at the recent regional Tyneside and Northumberland Awards. Sponsored by UK Trade & Investment, the award was won on the basis of Kilfrost’s continued and significant export success despite difficult trading conditions and global economic uncertainty. Kilfrost regularly exports more than three quarters of its total sales and is expanding into previously untapped markets including China.
Partnerships/Acquisitions/Contracts
¦ JBT AeroTech recently received an order from Aircraft Services International Group (ASIG) for Tempest XR, extended reach deicers for servicing the new Airbus A380 aircraft at New York JFK International Airport. The Tempest with the XR boom does not require outriggers and provides the most efficient solution for deicing the A380. When not extended, the XR boom operates with the same characteristics as the standard Tempest boom.
¦ Swissport International is selling its passenger handling operations in Germany to Aviation Handling Services GmbH. The sale, which will be formally concluded on June 1, does not include the cargo handling activities of Swissport Deutschland GmbH. AHS Aviation Handling Services GmbH is to take over the organizations and operations of Swissport’s subsidiary companies at Hamburg, Hanover, Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf and Munich airports in Germany on June 1.
¦ ASIG® announced today that it has commenced complete ground handling services for Allegiant Air’s new operation at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). ASIG is providing ramp handling, cabin cleaning, aircraft fueling and passenger handling services to Allegiant’s 28 weekly flights.
¦ Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has been awarded a three-year contract to provide ground handling services for Tunis Air flights in Paris Orly (ORY). Full handling implementation of all Tunis Air flights will start May 12.
¦ Cargo Airport Services USA LLC (“CAS”) has been awarded the cargo warehouse and ramp handling contract with China Airlines at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). CAS will handle China Airlines in DFW at the CAS cargo facility that includes ramp parking for wide body aircraft. The DFW schedule will consist of four freighter operations weekly Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. The IAH schedule will operate on Thursday and Saturday.
¦ Swissport International announced that South Africa-based 1 Time Airlines will entrust Swissport with ramp handling at six airports in the country (involving some 1100 movements a month) from Aug. 1. 1 Time will be Swissport South Africa’s third-biggest customer, after South African Airways and Mango. Swissport has also secured new business at Paris (Charles de Gaulle) Airport, where it will assume ground handling responsibility for Malaysian Airlines (as well as Air Arabia and Aer Lingus) on Aug. 1. And in Sofia, Swissport has concluded a new accord with Turkish Airlines to take over the carrier’s handling from June 15.
¦ ASIG® announced today that EL AL Israel Airlines has selected ASIG as their new ground handler at JFK International Airport. ASIG is providing EL AL with comprehensive ground handling services at JFK’s Terminal 4. This includes ramp, cabin cleaning, cargo transportation and aircraft deicing. EL AL has an average of 14 weekly wide body flights.
¦ Cavotec MSL announced a series of ground support equipment orders from three Turkish airports in recent months. The deals will see the delivery of hydrant pit systems to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, Antalya Airport and Istanbul Atatürk Airport.
¦ Air T Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Global Ground Support LLC, has received an order for 29 mobile deicing trucks, including three extended reach deicers, to be supplied to the United States Air Force for a total of approximately $11.5 million. The order is pursuant to Global’s existing multi-year contract with the Air Force and includes the actual units, shipping costs and training courses associated with the units. Global’s contract with the Air Force expires in June 2009 and Global is currently in the process responding to the new request for proposal.
¦ Achieved through the award of WestJet’s ground handling contract, Airport Terminal Services (ATS) announced that on May 01, 2009 it opened its eighth Canadian location at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL). YUL represents the fifth location where ATS currently provides ground handling and services on behalf of strategic partner WestJet.
¦ Airport Terminal Services announced it has purchased the eTug electric tow tractors for its operations at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif.
¦ S.I.E. (Systems Industrie Electronics) AG, a leading provider of computer hardware and embedded solutions, based in Lustenau, Austria, has announced the purchase of substantially all assets of Carlo Gavazzi Computing Solutions Inc., an innovative leader in electronic packaging. The newly formed company, S.I.E. Computing Solutions, Inc. will have the same headquarters in Brockton, Mass., and the same commitment to existing core markets.
¦ Airport Terminal Services Inc. (ATS) is pleased to announce that Virgin America has awarded ATS a contract for ramp and cleaning services at John Wayne Airport, gateway to Orange County, Calif. The contract, for daily handling of Virgin America’s A319 and A320 aircraft, began April 29.
¦ Swissport International announced new business on the cargo front. It assumed responsibility for FedEx’s cargo and warehouse handling in Osaka on April 1. Swissport has also been performing all Fedex airfreight handling in Seoul since May 1. The new agreement with Fedex covers 1,200 flights a year. In Athens, Swissport will take over the cargo handling for Etihad on June 8. And in Geneva, Swissport added AirBridge Cargo to its airfreight handling customers on May 4. Swissport will assume responsibility for all the cargo and trucking services of South African Airways at London Heathrow on Aug. 1.
People in the News
¦ Palmer Johnson announced it hired Mark Young as outside salesperson for Texas and Oklahoma. Young is based out of its Arlington, Texas, sales and service center. Palmer Johnson Power Systems specializes in servicing and supplying components for heavy-duty, off highway transmissions and axles.
¦ Effective June 1, Peter Gerber has been nominated for a seat on the executive board of Lufthansa Cargo by the steering committee of the company’s supervisory board. As board member finance and human resources and as labor director, he will complete the executive board led by chairman Carsten Spohr. Peter Gerber succeeds Dr. Roland Busch, who will in future head the finance and human resources division on the Lufthansa passenger airlines board.
¦ Jérôme Lorrain and Heath White are to join the executive management of Wallenborn Transports S.A.
¦ Swissport International announced changes to its management. Juan José Andres Alvez will serve as executive vice president EMEAA (Europe, Middle East Africa & Asia), while Adrian Melliger will serve as senior vice president responsible for the key Swiss and German markets.
