Swissport To Airlines: Get Out Of Ground Handling

Aug. 6, 2013
Swissport looks for other ground handling acquisitions after taking over Servisair.

Actually, Per Utnegaard put things more diplomatically in a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.

“Many airlines are still operating a lot of non-core activities rather than focusing on flying aircraft with the right fleet and the right number of passengers and the right yield,” said Utnegaard, Swissport’s CEO.

Swissport was in the news last week after it agreed to buy Servisair. According to Utnegaard, airlines still control about half the world’s ground handling market. He thinks their fortunes would be better served by concentrating on what goes on inside the aircraft rather than outside.

Swissport says it acquired Servisair for $597 million, its largest acquisition to date. The CEO added that the deal will give Swissport a market share of about 7 percent of the world's ground handling business and will continue to shop for other deals, particularly in Africa.