Ground Handling Outlook '05

Aviance

Alain Chapgier, General Secretary

At Aviance, we collectively anticipate following evolutions in the air transport industry:

1) Consolidation (it already occurred among manufacturers, soon to take place among carriers and airport services companies)
2) Gradual convergence between low-cost carriers and legacy carriers: the former will suffer from their success; the latter will streamline to survive
3) Extension of point to point operation, with a slight downturn in complex and costly hub and spoke connections
4) Drastic changes in services to passengers landside (more and more will be done off airport, even at home)

At Aviance, we believe our strength comes from our diversity. Every member of the alliance has a long experience in ground handling, but in its own culture, environment and market. Pooling all this expertise allows us to exchange the best practices to progressively standardize and optimize our product to the benefit of the final customer: the passenger.

Fortbrand Services Inc.

Peter Stearn, Vice President

As the airlines continue to outsource ground handling functions to third parties, the ground handlers are increasingly looking to single-source solution providers, such as Fortbrand Services, to meet their new and used ground support equipment needs, as well as to provide short-term rentals and longer-term leasing and financing of ground support equipment.

GAT Airline Ground Support

Richard Theil, Marketing Director

The airline industry has undergone a transformation due to financial challenges resulting from over-capacity, economic pressure and the long-term ramifications of 9/11. The business models that proved to be highly successful in the mid to late '90s have become obsolete resulting in major airline companies re-defining their vision for the 20th Century.

Suppliers providing services to the airline industry have shared the financial pressures resulting from the turmoil inherent in the industry over the past year. To adapt to this changing climate, ground handling companies must be creative in developing strategies that will allow them to remain competitive in the marketplace while fostering a spirit of teamwork and ownership among employee groups. This framework for success must have buy-in from all departments for the corporate leadership team to be successful.

GAT is making a commitment to the long-term industry outlook by broadening the scope of services that we provide our airline customers. There are several advantages to this approach, which include synergies gained through an integrated staff plan, simplification of invoicing mechanisms and the streamlining of auditing practices in the areas of regulatory compliance and fiscal responsibility.

A true partnership approach to the outsourcing process ensures service integrity and a seamless integration of products and services. GAT adheres to the philosophy that strong business relationships are built on a reputation of reliability in service and the overall value of services offered to customers. In summary, the best price is not always the best value.

To this end, we plan to invest wisely in technological advances and the development of key personnel to meet the changing needs of our customer base. We truly believe our employees to be our most valuable asset and the key to the long term success of the company. Internal and external resources have and will continue to be used for employee development to facilitate innovation, creativity and leadership in the workplace. Technological advances will be used to expedite process mapping and productivity tracking thereby, reducing exposure waste in the workplace.

Goldair Handling

Wolfram Pinhammer, Commercial Director