News in Brief

¦ The American carrier US Airways has just signed a major cargo-handling contract with Aviapartner Cargo for the provision of full cargo handling services at no less than 13 stations in Europe, effective July 1, 2008. The contract is signed for a period of three years and represents a volume of about 33,000T per year. This is the largest network contract with regards to coverage and scope ever signed in the history of Aviapartner Cargo. Aviapartner Cargo will provide US Airways with full cargo handling services in Frankfurt, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Athens, Zurich, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Rome, Milan and Venice: warehousing, ULD build-up and breakdown, inventory control, documentation for import and export, customs clearance, tracing, and dangerous goods handling.

¦ ARINC Incorporated and Gate Gourmet, a global leader in airline catering and onboard retail management, said they will work together to market onboard sales programs for the world’s airlines and passenger rail systems. Under a memorandum just signed, Gate Gourmet will offer ARINC’s cutting-edge SkyBuy™ sales technology as the standard in its buy-on-board programs, while ARINC will work exclusively with Gate Gourmet on outsourced catering and buy-on-board projects. The two companies plan to introduce SkyBuy to retail programs already under way at three leading airlines — easyJet and Norwegian in Europe, and Jetstar in Asia.

¦ Proserv Aviation Inc. has signed a distributor agreement with Unitron LP. Proserv will be stocking both new and used power carts. Unitron offers solid state power carts in configurations from 15KVA through 180KVA. Each unit offers different options of single or dual output, 28.5vdc output, combination AC/DC units, and more.

¦ BAX Global has awarded Integrated Airline Services Inc. (IASAir) new business at El Paso International Airport. Effective since April 21, 2008, IASAir has provided ramp handling services for BAX Global in El Paso, Texas.

¦ Gate Gourmet, the world’s largest independent airline catering and logistics provider and a member of gategroup, has agreed to purchase airline catering units in five cities from Air Berlin and SCK Sky Catering Kitchen GmbH. In addition, Air Berlin, Germany’s second largest airline and the third largest carrier in the European leisure market, has agreed to a new long-term catering contract with Gate Gourmet in Germany and the rest of Europe. The flight kitchens included in the transaction are located at Dusseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Munster/Osnabruck, Leipzig/Halle and Paderborn. The five facilities serve approximately 18,000 flights total a year, with Dusseldorf the largest single unit at approximately 10,000 flights annually.

¦ Menzies Aviation announced that Orient Thai Airlines has awarded its ramp handling contract for freighter aircraft operation at Hong Kong International Airport to the company. This is in addition to the ramp handling services provided by Menzies to the passenger aircraft of the airline at Hong Kong. Orient Thai operates five freighter flights per week to Hong Kong using B747F aircraft. The airline, which was Asia’s first international charter operator, currently provides scheduled services from Hong Kong to Bangkok (daily) and Phuket (three each week), and has an extensive domestic network.

¦ Cavotec Middle East FZE has accquired the US-based Dabico Group, a manufacturer of airport ground support equipment. Cavotec MSL Holdings Ltd., the parent company of Cavotec Middle East FZE and leaders in the design and installation of environmentally friendly power solutions, inked the synergy deal recently and the acquisition has been in effect since April 23, 2008.

¦ The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority has awarded Unisys Canada Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unisys Corp., a contract to supply, integrate and manage a new identification management system, using fingerprint and iris biometric technology to verify the identities of airport workers at 29 airports throughout Canada.

¦ The US Navy has awarded General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems a five-year, $27 million contract for performance-based logistics support of mission computers in Navy F/A-18 Hornet and AV-8B Harrier aircraft. General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics. Work will be performed in Bloomington, Minn., and will include the repair of advanced mission computers developed by General Dynamics for the F/A-18E, F/A-18F and EA-18G model aircraft, and the mission systems computer developed by General Dynamics for the AV-8B.

¦ Skycooler, the cool container leasing company, confirms it has signed its first long-term leasing contract with British Airways. British Airways & Skycooler worked closely together to ensure that the certified SKYcooler units fulfilled the operational requirements for the air transportation of temperature-sensitive cargo.