Aviapartner, whose origins date back to 1949 under the name of Herfurth Air Services to become 'Belgavia' in the late 1960s, is a Belgian company that provides ground handling services at 37 airports in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands. Among the airports served are Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan, Düsseldorf, Rome, Nice, Toulouse and Málaga .[2]
History
In 1949, Belgavia was founded in Antwerp, Belgium. In the coming years, they expanded their services to the airports of Ostend (1957), Liège (1965) and Brussels (1970). It took until the 90's for the company to go international. Bases in France and later in Germany were opened. In 1999, the name was changed to Aviapartner. The group expanded by taking over Servisair in Rotterdam (2002), Aero Groundservices in Amsterdam (2007) and SAT in Bordeaux and La Rochelle (2010).[3]
In 2011, Aviapartner lost its handling licence in Brussels for seven years to Swissport. This could lead to the loss of thousands of jobs and led to a major 24-hour strike in June 2011 that affected many flights and passengers.[4]
Aviapartner went to court as they believed juridical mistakes had been made. The judge ruled that a new investigation was to be conducted and that, in the meantime, Aviapartner could continue operations at the airport. Before a new investigation was concluded, Swissport took over Flightcare, the other ground handling company at the airport. Note that only two handling licences are issued at the airport.
In 2012, Aviapartner announced a merge with the French Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), making them the biggest ground handler in Europe.[5] This merge was not successful.[6]
Range of ground handling services
Check-in, ticketing, boarding assistance, lost and found baggage services, assistance to disabled passengers, passenger ground transportation.
Loading and unloading of baggage and cargo to/from aircraft on the ramp, ground power provision for aircraft, cleaning, water and sanitary services, freight and baggage transfer to terminal, crew transfer from aircraft to terminal/hotel, pushback and towing, with headset, aircraft de-icing.
Preparation of flight documentation, ground to air communication, calculation of weight and balance, set-up of loadsheet, crew briefing, flight supervision.
Warehousing, palletizing, import and export procedures, customs clearance, trucking services.
Transfer of courier and express shipments to/from other warehouses and aircraft, handling of express flights operated from the Brussels Airport Courier center.
Awards
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol presented Aviapartner with 'The Best Handler Award' in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009 for its excellent performance in the areas of service, safety and co-operation.
Aviapartner received the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) registration for:
- Amsterdam (December 2008)
- Frankfurt (July 2009)
- Düsseldorf (September 2009)
- Munich (October 2009)
- Brussels (October 2009)
- Milan-Malpensa (November 2009)
- Nice (November 2009)
- Lyon (December 2009)
- Turin (May 2010)
- Venice (June 2010)
- Rotterdam (May 2011)
