Weekly posts reviewing Ground Support Equipment, Manufacturers and Professional GSE Users.
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(VIDEO) From The Sublime To The Ridiculous
By Steve Smith - Tuesday June 18, 2013First, we read the news that a team of students from Brazil won top honors, including more than $40,000 in prize money, for an air-powered baggage handling idea borrowed from air hockey tables. Everyone knows that air hockey relies on a cushion of air to move the puck. Team Levar from the University of Sao Paulo took that concept and spread it over the surface of aircraft cargo compartments. Airbus Fly Your Ideas is a biennial competition which challenges students worldwide to develop ideas for a more sustainable aviation industry. There’s an excellent video here that discusses the winners and the larger issue to bring “disruptive” ideas to aviation. Second, we spotted this video last night on one of our typical surfs... -
Justice For Swissport?
By Steve Smith - Tuesday June 11, 2013
As we write this, Swissport has already had its day in court – or, at the very least, its first day in the Highest Economic Court in Ukraine. Today the court heard Swissport’s appeal of a lower court decision that stripped the ground handling service provider of its affiliate, Swissport Ukraine. We wrote about that decision in our May issue (“Swissport Loses Out In Ukraine … For Now”) that allowed its former joint venture partner, which held a minority stake in the business, to take over a $30 million operation for a mere $400,000. To recap, Ukraine International Airlines and its main shareholder, Aaron Mayberg, took Swissport to court after Swissport may … or may not … have mentioned a plan to increase its capital... -
A New Piece Of Equipment For The Tarmac?
By Steve Smith - Tuesday June 4, 2013
We received an interesting press release about a new unmanned ground vehicle currently being tested at Quebec City’s Jean Lesage International Airport. The unusual six-wheeled vehicle is built low to the ground and appears to have the world’s largest dust pan mounted on the front. The Remote Package Handling System is the first commercial version of a new family of remote-controlled ground vehicles created by a partnership of three Canadian companies after 10 years of R&D. Although Lesage is not counted among Canada’s largest airport, its security staff prides itself in exploring the newest and best methods of protecting its passengers and staff. Laurent Giroux, chief of security and assistant director of operations, contacted the... -
MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE: How The Halvorsen Loader Got Its Name
By Steve Smith - Tuesday May 28, 2013
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Not such an "oldie" - we first published this in February - but it's a "goodie" considering yesterday's date.] We put the finishing touches on our February issue last week that celebrates our 20 th year publishing the leading voice of the ground support community. Our cover story is on the history of ground support equipment, which can trace its ancestry all the way back to 1705 when the Goldhofer family started a blacksmith’s shop. Ironically, the professional management of that company was in the news last week, too, when it announced the acquisition of Schopf - by comparison a teenager that got its start in 1945 when Jorg Schopf opened a design office to develop shovel loaders. We tried our best to celebrate... -
No Soup For You!
By Steve Smith - Tuesday May 21, 2013
Or clean planes, for that matter. And don’t even mention unloading cargo and luggage. We posted an interesting news story yesterday about LAN Airlines suspending its flights in Argentina as the result of a contract dispute with its one-and-only ground handler, the state-run Intercargo. For one reason or another, we couldn’t get scenes from the old “Seinfeld” show out of our heads. Back in 2010, Argentina’s government helped prop up another state-run business, in this case, Aerolinas Argentinas by passing a law that gave the ailing flag carrier priority to use all the country’s passenger bridges. That law changed a bit to allow carriers to use the bridges for up to two flights a day. That might work for foreign carriers...
