Zurich, May 12, 2009 – Swissport International has concluded several new contractual agreements in the last few days despite the currently adverse trends within the airline industry. The accords include major business commissions from 1 Time Airlines of South Africa and FedEx in Asia.
Despite the generally gloomy news from the transport sector, Swissport has concluded several new contractual agreements in the ground handling and cargo services fields:
- South Africa-based 1 Time Airlines will entrust Swissport with its ramp handling at six airports in the country (involving some 1100 movements a month) from Aug. 1. 1 Time will be Swissport South Africa’s third-biggest customer, after South African Airways and Mango.
- Swissport has also secured new business at Paris (Charles de Gaulle) Airport, where it will assume ground handling responsibility for Malaysian Airlines (as well as Air Arabia and Aer Lingus) on Aug. 1. And in Sofia, Swissport has concluded a new accord with Turkish Airlines to take over the carrier’s handling from June 15.
Strong Gains on the Cargo Front
- Swissport assumed responsibility for FedEx’s cargo and warehouse handling in Osaka on April 1. Swissport has also been performing all Fedex airfreight handling in Seoul since May 1. The new agreement with Fedex covers 1,200 flights a year.
- There is good news from Athens, too, where Swissport will take over the cargo handling for Etihad on June 8. And in Geneva, Swissport added AirBridge Cargo to its airfreight handling customers on May 4.
- Swissport will assume responsibility for all the cargo and trucking services of South African Airways at London Heathrow on Aug. 1. Swissport will also be providing cargo services, domestic trucking and airside trucking for Finnair’s four daily flights from London Heathrow and Manchester to Helsinki from Sept. 1.
- Finally, in Brazil, Swissport Cargo Services added Air France/KLM to its cargo handling customers at São Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport on April 17.
Swissport’s new business successes confirm that in difficult economic times in particular, good and reliable partnerships pay off in the long term, and offering excellent value-for-money is more important than ever.
