News In Brief

The name of the show might be new, but as always attendees will have the chance to meet manufacturers and learn about the latest products and services on the exhibit floor, network during show events and take advantage of education seminars geared to ground support equipment.

This year, Ground Support Worldwide will host two seminars each on March 13:

Funding Options For Electric GSE, 11 a.m.-12 noon

Neal Wolfe, a senior consultant with LeighFisher, to discuss not VALE grants, but other state and local alternatives.

The State Of The Electric GSE Market, 2-3 p.m.

A panel discussion including GSE professionals from airlines and battery makers to talk about the results of a survey of Ground Support Worldwide readers on their buying trends for electric equipment.

Another draw for our readers is sure to be an expanded outdoor exhibit area, which will offer booths and plenty of room to demonstrate GSE.

Also, we’ll be announcing the winners of our Ground Support Leaders at the Opening Night Reception, 6 p.m., March 13. (For information on nominating someone, see the ad on page 15.)

Finally, the magazine turns 20 next February and we will mark the occasion at the show with a display of important milestones in the development of ground support equipment, including tractors, pushbacks, GPUs and deicers. We’re looking for any old images of equipment and stories to share. Send any information to Steve Smith at steve.smith@aviationpros.com.

To register and for complete information on the show, go to aviationproslive.com.

Commission Approves WFS, Aviapartner Merger

The European Commission cleared the way for the proposed acquisition of Aviapartner by WFS.

The commission’s investigation showed that the merged company would continue to face strong competition from ground handlers in all affected markets, that barriers to entry were generally rather low, thus, allowing for possible new entrants and that customers wielded significant buyer power.

Neither company’s operations overlap for the provision of ramp, passenger and baggage handling services. As a result, the commission’s competitive assessment focused on landside cargo handling, where the parties’ activities overlap at five airports, Amsterdam-Schiphol, Basel-Mulhouse, Brussels National, Frankfurt/Main and Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle.

However, with the exception of Brussels National and Frankfurt/Main, the commission concluded that increments in market shares are very limited. At Brussels National, in particular, the commission said competition from other ground handlers, such as Swissport/Flightcare, would sufficiently restrain the merged company. In addition, no substantial barriers to entry were found and new warehousing space will soon be built.

ASIG Partners With American At Six U.S. Airports

American Airlines selected ASIG to provide a variety of aviation fuel and ground handling services at six U.S. airports. These agreements represent a major outsourcing of airside services by American.

ASIG is American’s new aircraft refueling provider at five airports including one of its main hubs at Chicago O’Hare International, where ASIG is already fueling its regional flights. The other four airports are Nashville International, Detroit Metro, San Diego International and San Francisco International. Both BNA and DTW also include the refueling of American’s regional flights.

In total, ASIG is providing aircraft refueling services to 250 flights per day at these airports. In addition, American has extended ASIG’s current refueling contracts at 24 airports for an additional 5 years, through 2017.

In related news, ASIG was also awarded a contract from American for ground handling, cabin cleaning and ground equipment maintenance services at Denver International Airport. This marks the first ground handling contract award that ASIG has received from American Airlines.

In other news, US Airways renewed ASIG’s aircraft deicing contracts at eight U.S. airports, including ORD, Indianapolis International, DTW and Bradley International airports. This is the fourth consecutive renewal of this contract.