On Sunday 29 October, Aviapartner started handling Iberia's 9 daily flights in Rome-Fiumicino. The group has also been providing ramp and passenger services to the Spanish carrier in Milan-Malpensa (6 daily flights) and Milan-Linate (2 daily flights) since 17 October.
The group had indeed announced the signature of a first new contract in Rome and Milan with the Spanish carrier last August, marking the effective arrival of the Aviapartner group in the two major Italian airports. The contract with Iberia also covers the provision of handling services in Venice, where start-up is foreseen on 1 December.
Aviapartner provides full handling services in Milan and Rome, including passenger services (check-in, boarding assistance, baggage tracing services, assistance to disabled passengers), aircraft ramp handling (loading and unloading, ground power, cleaning, water and sanitary services, baggage transfer, headset, pushback and towing) and traffic operations (flight documentation, communication, weight and balance, crew briefing, and flight supervision). In Rome, Aviapartner also provides ticketing services.
Aviapartner has already been handling several airlines since its arrival in Rome and Milan, which were originally customers of Are Handling, the Italian handling company with which Aviapartner signed an agreement last May. This resulted in the creation of a joint-venture company under the Aviapartner name, adding Rome and Milan to the Italian airports of Aviapartner's network, which already included Venice and Turin.
Indeed, next to Iberia, the customer portfolio in Rome includes the regular airlines Air Berlin, Deutsche BA, Fly Niki, LTU, LTE, SkyEurope, Travel Service (Smartwings) and Vueling and several companies with ad-hoc flights like Air Cairo, Karthago, Futura, Skyservice, JetX, First Choice Airways and Slovak Airlines.
In Milan-Malpensa, it includes Germanwings, Sterling, LTE, Vueling, and on a ad-hoc basis, Air Cairo, Trade Air, First Choice, and Slovak Airlines.
Theo Dilissen, CEO of Aviapartner: "We are extremely happy about this start-up in Rome and Milan and of course about the fact that Iberia has decided to switch to Aviapartner in both of these airports. Iberia is a very important network customer for Aviapartner. This Italian cooperation between Iberia and Aviapartner not only materializes our presence on the ramp in the two major Italian airports. It also strengthens our network in Italy considerably, as well as our European network as a whole, and highlights our position as a preferred supplier of integrated network deals not only for Iberia, but also for all other airlines. We have built a close relationship with Iberia over the years throughout our European network, with the aim of offering them a consistent service delivery at a consistent quality level. The fact that they decided to put their trust in Aviapartner in Rome and Milan as well is a proof that the network works!"
