Zurich, March 31, 2009 – Swissport International has scored a number of recent successes in its Swissport Cargo Services airfreight handling division, with new agreements concluded with the likes of Cargolux, Air Astana, Hainan Airlines, Onur Air, Lufthansa, Aerosvit/Unitag, Transaero and United Airlines over the past few weeks. The successes are all the more impressive in view of the current downward trends within the logistics sector.
The bad news from the transport industry – of capacity reductions, short-term working, volume declines and more – shows no sign of easing up. Swissport, too, is preparing for a difficult business year, and is currently providing itself with maximum flexibility to respond to various possible scenarios.
Given the present industry trends and market conditions, Swissport is particularly pleased to report the conclusion of new contractual agreements with a number of renowned cargo carriers. The new accords confirm once again how good quality, high reliability and competitive pricing will generally reap their rewards in the longer term. Some of the highlights among the recent new agreements:
- Cargolux will entrust all its ground handling at Atlanta Airport to Swissport with effect from May 1.
- Swissport is responsible for all the cargo affairs of Air Astana (of Kazakhstan) at Amsterdam Airport since March 29.
- Swissport Tel Aviv has been looking after Aerosvit’s cargo business since March 8. Aerosvit is represented by general sales agent (GSA) Unitag, which is also responsible for another 17 airlines, including recent new customers Belavia, Tandam Aero, Transaero and Onur Air.
- Swissport Budapest has won two new customers: Hainan Airlines (for cargo generally) and Lufthansa (for trucking). Both operations are due to commence April 1.
- United Airlines has entrusted Swissport with the handling of its daily service to Geneva (including all cargo matters) since March 28.
“We are very pleased with these new developments, though we’re also well aware of the many challenges that the next few months will bring,” says John Batten, executive vice president and head of Swissport’s global cargo business. “In times like the present, it’s more vital than ever to consider new forms of collaboration such as outsourcing or new frame agreements; and our customers clearly appreciate the flexibility Swissport offers here, along with our active endeavours to devise and develop further improvements and innovative solutions.”
Swissport Cargo Services, which is a division of Swissport International, operates at 102 locations and generated total revenue of around CHF 420 million (EUR 280 million) last year.
