Swissport Wins Ryanair Business at Berlin Schönefeld and Has Licenses in Brussels Extended

Feb. 20, 2018
Swissport is hiring around 150 new employees in Berlin Schönefeld and will invest around three million euros in new Ground Service Equipment.

As of April 1, 2018, Swissport in Germany will take over all ground handling services for Ryanair at Berlin Schönefeld Airport. This includes ticketing, check-in, gate, passenger transport and baggage handling services. Swissport is hiring around 150 new employees in Berlin Schönefeld and will invest around three million euros in new Ground Service Equipment.

"The cooperation with Ryanair is another milestone in the development of Swissport in the German market. This success story delights us, as it consolidates our presence in Berlin even further and creates new jobs", says Willy Ruf, Senior Vice President Germany, Austria and Switzerland at Swissport International.

In 2015, Swissport had already acquired the licence for ground handling services at Berlin Schönefeld Airport and - for the period following its opening - also at the new capital airport Berlin Brandenburg. Since market access to the central Berlin Tegel airport is not yet guaranteed, the growth opportunities until the opening of Berlin Brandenburg seemed limited. This makes the cooperation with one of the major low-cost airlines all the more gratifying. Ryanair has stationed 10 aircraft in Schönefeld and operates around 16,000 flights a year.

Adrian Dunne, Director Ground Operations at Ryanair, was satisfied as well: "We have a long-standing partnership with Swissport at various stations. In Swissport we see as a strategic partner for our growth plan in Germany and expect that Berlin Schönefeld will also see a further increase in service quality."

Swissport Belgium, one of the two companies responsible for the handling of aircraft and baggage at Brussels Airport, renewed its ground handling license with the Brussels Airport Company (BAC). The new license will be effective as of 28 October 2018 and has a term of 7 years. Moreover, Swissport Cargo Services Belgium also extended its cargo handling license for another seven years. 

"The extension of the licenses for aircraft, baggage and cargo handling is very good news. At the end of 2017, Brussels Airlines, which accounts for approximately 60% of the total volume of Swissport Belgium, already reaffirmed its confidence in Swissport", says Pieter Van den Nieuwenhuizen, CEO of Swissport Belgium. "And the seven-years extension of the licenses by BAC further supports the continuity and sustainability of our activities."