swissreporter - issue 1

Swissport International Ltd.
International customer journal
Issue 1
January 1999
I N T E R N AT I O N A L C U S T O M E R J O U R N A L
SWISSPORT WORLDWIDE ■ Swissport
Brasil Ltda. is well on the road to success
Swissport Brasil is only 18 months old, but it’s already operating at seven key airports in this enormous country.
Swissport Brasil may have only
been born on May 20, 1997; but
the company has already notched
up a number of successes. Under
the guidance of CEO Aldo Ferretti,
the young firm and its 900 highly
motivated personnel offer the
whole range of quality ground
handling services at seven airports
throughout this vast South American country.
I T A L L S T A R T E D fairly modestly, with Delta Air Lines’ daily departures from Rio de Janeiro and São
Paulo, which Swissport Brasil started
to handle on June 15, 1997. But in
1998, things really took off, with new
airports added almost every month:
Brasilia on March 1, Fortaleza on
April 1, Manaus at the end of April,
Salvador on July 1 and Recife on August 1, bringing to seven the airports
benefiting from the company’s superior services.
Aldo Ferretti, a Swiss by birth, and
the company’s “Diretor para o Brasil”, may look back with a wry smile
now on the work, the stress, the improvisation and the long days and
short nights of those pioneering
months. At the time, though, it was a
phenomenal test for everyone involved,
SAirServices
The
magnificent
seven
with countless hours of overtime,night
shifts, and a virtual ban on weekends
and even public holidays.
Ferretti well remembers how he was
selected from the Swissport Management Pool in March 1997 and asked to
take a closer look at the “project” in
Brazil. As a former Swissair man,
Ferretti already had six years of experience of the country under his belt.
So he was well familiar with its culture, customs, mentality and working
methods. Perhaps most importantly
of all, he had a working knowledge of
the local language: as he says himself,
“If you can’t speak Portuguese, you
won’t get anywhere at all.”
INSIDE
Hans Klaus, Head of
SAirServices Corporate
Communications, describes
the division to which
Swissport International is
assigned in the SAirGroup
and the synergies offered
by its various member companies.
Page 4
After some tough negotiations and a
thorough assessment of the range of
options available, Swissport International began its Brazilian adventure
by assuming responsibility for the
ground handling of Transbrasil, one
of the country’s leading air carriers.
With the ramp equipment it inherited
from the airline – which included highloaders, belts, pushback tractors, passenger stairs, ground power units, dollies, and toilet and water trucks –
Swissport Brasil was able to make rapid inroads into the local ground handling market. The deal also gave the
new company virtually instant access
to five of the country’s major airports.
INTERVIEW
Swissport should have
secured ISO 9002 certification for all its operations
worldwide by mid-1999.
Swissport Zurich, Geneva
and Basel will have achieved
this top quality standard by
December 1998.
“Swissreporter” asked Paul
Reutlinger, President &
CEO of Sabena, about the
latest industry developments
– alliances, codeshares and
so on – and for his views
and impressions of the
Swissport service product.
Page 5
Page 8
SWISSPORT WORLDWIDE
tours the various airport operations
to enhance the local staff’s knowledge,
appreciation and skills. It’s an approach that has reaped sizable dividends: “Our customers tell us that we
don’t just meet the standards they
expect; we actually exceed them,”
Ferretti says with pride.“But it’s something we absolutely have to do,” he
adds. “We have strong local competitors in SATA and various smaller
but very competitive ground handling
companies; and we just have to aspire
to this excellence if we want to survive.”
Where next?
Having grown so rapidly in the last
two years, Swissport Brasil’s next task
is to consolidate its position and
“We want to
maintain Swissport’s high quality
standards in
everything
we do.”
maintain its services at this high quality level. It has already built up a formidable customer base, which in-
”Everything OK?” Luiz Leite (right), Swissport’s Station Manager at São Paulo
International Airport, makes a personal quality check of the company’s frontline operations.
As Ferretti recalls, “It was very important for everyone concerned – the
staff, the unions and the authorities –
that we took over as quickly and
smoothly as possible. That’s also why
our workforce expanded from fifty to
around a thousand in just four
months!”
“With our name
and our links to
Swissair, familiarity
with our company
and its products
is already very
high.”
One major factor in working the Brazilian market is the vast distances involved, as Ferretti points out. “It’s a
bit like being based in Helsinki and
being expected to run the operations
in Athens, too. You can only do it if
you’ve got good people in there doing
the job for you.” It was thus clear for
Ferretti from the start that he would
have to have two or three top-class
managers in place at each location –
people he could rely on a hundred
and ten per cent. “I recruited these
top managers myself,” he recalls.
“And I must say that this was where
all the connections I had made in my
previous years in Brazil came in very
handy indeed.”
Invaluable investment
It was an invaluable investment: as
Ferretti readily admits, the company
would never have negotiated those
testing early months if it hadn’t been
for the inexhaustible flexibility, the
innovative skills and the sheer mobility of his management crew. The
passenger stairs alone, to give just one
example, had to be shifted some
13 000 kilometres by road before they
were finally in the right airport location.
It was a learning experience, too: in
those early weeks and months, almost
60 per cent of the time available was
spent intensively training the company’s personnel. Motivation was
never a problem: the Brazilian staff
were raring to go. But there was a
strong need to familiarise the new
employees with the Swissport quality
philosophy and the standards that
were expected.
Constant training
In fact, this training extended far
beyond the initial start-up period, and
continues to this day. Every area of
the company’s activities has its own
instructor/trainer who constantly
This pushback tractor, which was painted gold to celebrate Swissport Brasil’s first
birthday, raised a round of smiles among customer carriers and other airport
partners.
“We’re very happy working with Swissport!”A genuine enthusiasm for their jobs
is plain to see with (right to left) Supervisor Claudia Lohmann and her check-in
colleagues Raquel Marciana and Berenice Bhorgi.
FA C T S & F I G U R E S
Swissport Brasil Ltda.
Total current workforce:
Flights handled per month:
Passengers handled per month:
Cargo handled per month:
Monthly turnover:
895 personnel
2800
30 000
7600 tonnes
USD 2 million
The seven Brazilian airports at which Swissport Brasil currently operates
are: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasilia, Manaus, Fortaleza, Recife and
Salvador.
2 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999
cludes reputed air carriers such as
Delta Air Lines, TAP Air Portugal,
Spanair, Transbrasil, ATA, Laker,
Inter Brasil, Total, TAM, Passadero
and of course Swissair. Further approaches to potential customers are
currently being made. “Keeping our
expansion going at just the right pace
is quite a challenge for all of us,”
Ferretti concedes.“What we’re trying
to do is keep our capacities and our
skills geared as closely as possible to
our customers’ wishes and volumes,
to ensure that we can give all our customer airlines a ground handling
product that fully lives up to the
Swissport name.”
But surely Aldo Ferretti has some
longer-term goals, too? He does. “We
want to be operating at the country’s
top ten airports,” he says. In concrete
terms, having built up a strong presence in the centre and north-east of
the country, the company is looking to
establish an operating base in the
south, too – a particularly attractive
prospect given the rapid rise of Mercosur. But Ferretti’s plans don’t stop
there. They don’t even stop at the
country’s borders: further expansion
to Montevideo, Buenos Aires or other
airports in Argentina, Chile or Peru
are also in his project portfolio.
Christian P. Somogyi
SWISSPORT WORLDWIDE
EYEWITNESS REPORT ■ Swissport Brasil
in action at Rio International Airport
Breathing life
into a quality
philosophy
Swissport Brasil has 232 personnel at Rio Airport, putting all their
motivation and skills into their
ground handling job.
Swissair and Spanair. “We’re quite
prepared to develop completely new
areas of activity at the new airport,
too,” Calvacante adds with a smile.
S O M E 8 0 T O 9 0 per cent of
Swissport Brasil’s workforce in Rio
brought a vast amount of airline experience with them when they joined
the South American member of the
Swissport International group. “And
we’re all incredibly proud to do our
bit in maintaining our high quality
standards,” emphasises Augusto Calvalcante, Station Manager for the
airport’s Swissport operations. Swissport handles flights at Rio for Delta
Air Lines, TAP Air Portugal, Transbrasil, Spanair, ATA and Swissair,
though negotiations are currently under way with other possible customers, too. “We wouldn’t have much
trouble adding a few other carriers,”
adds Claudia Oelmann, who is in
charge of contracts for the local Swissport organisation. Virtually everyone
in the Swissport team is keen to stress
the close and fruitful collaboration
they enjoy with the other local operations of partner companies within the
SAirGroup, such as Gate Gourmet,
the airline catering organisation; and
everyone is keenly aware of the synergic potential offered by these corporate family ties. “We can really use
the excellent image of our multinational group of companies to offer packages of services that are precisely tailored to individual customer needs,”
Oelmann explains. “That means not
just ground handling services,but catering for their flights if they need it, or
the kind of software solutions that
Atraxis,our IT company,can provide.”
Stephan Beerli
State-of-the art terminal
The Swissport Rio team finds it quite
understandable that, as the business
heart of the country, São Paulo presently generates more flights to handle
than their own operation. But, as they
are eager to point out, that could well
change. Rio Airport is currently building a state-of-the-art terminal that
will set new benchmarks of comfort
for carriers and passengers alike. The
local Swissport organisation is spreading its wings in other directions, too: it
already acts as general manager for
Augusto Calvacante (right), Swissport’s Station Manager at Rio International
Airport, talks to his Brazilian ramp staff.
PORTRAIT
Aldo E. Ferretti, Swissport’s “Diretor para o Brasil”
ALDO FERRETTI has been a multinational nomad almost all his adult
life. After a youth that took him to
various locations in his native Switzer-
lowed up this initial vote of confidence
with an offer to train him as a future
station manager.Aldo was on his way,
and was soon adding to his first
experience abroad with relief duties in Kinshasa,
Johannesburg,Nairobi,Hong
Kong, Accra, Lagos and
Singapore. In the end, as he
puts it himself:“I just had to
admit one day that I’d chosen Swissair rather than a
physics degree.”
His initial deployments were
followed by more permanent station management
stints: Kinshasa for two
years, Johannesburg for five
years, Athens for three
years, Karachi for two years,
Aldo Ferretti, President and CEO of Swissport Singapore for two years, Rio
Brasil, has set course for corporate success in no de Janeiro for six years and
time at all.
Nairobi for five years, along
with further reliefs to Brazzaville,
land, he completed his baccalau- Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Neryungri,
reate in Thun (Canton Berne) and Yakutsk and Budapest.
enrolled to study physics at Zurich
University. He first came into con- So what did he get up to in all those
tact with Swissair when he sought years? How did he spend his free
part-time work to help finance his stu- hours, what hobbies did he pursue? “I
dies: he was soon cleaning aircraft, spent my spare time in Beirut workloading and unloading baggage and ing on my pilot’s licence,” he recalls.
performing any of a wide range of “I had a pilot’s licence before I had a
additional casual tasks.
driving licence, in fact. And I then
took a Cessna 150 on a four-hour
It was one of his uncles who drew his flight over the sea to Nicosia to indulge
attention to a dispatcher’s course my second passion, parachuting.
being offered.Aldo took it, but swore When I was in Karachi, I wasn’t too
to himself that he would return im- far from the Maldives, so diving was
mediately afterwards to finish his on the agenda.And during my time in
degree. The trouble was, he was one Rio I got into ULMs – ultralight
of the best on the course, and was aircraft.” In fact, he is the first ULM
sent off for service in Beirut as soon pilot in the country to perform “longas it was over; and Swissair then fol- haul” flights as far as Paraguay and
along the Brazilian coast to the
country’s north-east corner.
An inquisitive
perfectionist
So is Aldo Ferretti a bit of an adventurous type? How does he see himself? He grins at the suggestion.“An
inquisitive perfectionist who’s always on the lookout for a new challenge – that’s how I’d describe myself,” he replies. He certainly seems
to feel at home in Brazil. He communicates in fluent Portuguese with
his business partners, as he does with
the staff who break in on our interview from time to time for the odd
instruction or decision.Aldo Ferretti
currently lives on the coast, about 90
kilometres away from his workplace
in São Paulo. But a move to Rio is already on the cards, when Swissport
Brasil moves its head office there.
Once he’s settled at his new location, he intends to devote more time
to his music – he plays the piano
and the clarinet – while continuing
with his diving and his ULM pursuits.
And where does a man who’s spent
his whole life travelling plan to settle
in the twilight of his career? He
bought a house not far from Lugano,
in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, about ten years ago.“You have
to put your roots down somewhere,”
he explains. When he does go back,
he’ll probably find a fairly overgrown
garden awaiting him. But then
again, he might just fly that ULM up
the Amazon instead…
Christian P. Somogyi
The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 3
SAirGroup
SAirServices ■ The “Global Service Provider” strategy
An impressive network of services
extending all over the globe
Swissport International is a member of the SAirGroup. In fact, it’s a
direct subsidiary of SAirServices,
which, with SAirLines (airline operations), SAirLogistics (cargo and
logistics) and SAirRelations (hotels,
catering and travel retail), make
up the group’s four corporate divisions.
I T ’ S G O O D to know that Swissport is part of such a strong service
leader as SAirServices. Of the four
corporate divisions that make up the
SAirGroup, SAirServices is certainly
the most diverse. With SR Technics
(aircraft engineering and maintenance),Swissport International (ground
handling worldwide),
Atraxis (air transportrelated IT applications),
Avireal (facility management) and SAirServices Invest (the holding company for
various smaller service providers),
SAirServices is
well on the way
to realising the
kind of “global
service provider”
strategy that is
undoubtedly the
way ahead.
cisely because of its heterogeneity
that SAirServices offers so much synergic potential to airlines and airports
alike. All the companies within
SAirServices are legally autonomous
entities which are fully owned by
SAirServices AG, itself a whollyowned subsidiary of SAirGroup. The
SAirServices division employs a total
of some 7000 personnel,and generated
overall turnover of CHF 1 841 million
in 1996.
the whole airport handling market is
gradually opening up, and more and
more airport operators are turning to
specialist companies to provide the
handling services they require. This
offers vast opportunities for Swissport International, the ground handling company of the SAirGroup.
Swissport is already active on almost
every continent, having undergone
rapid growth in the last few months,
and now operates in countries as geo-
A global
network of
services
But what does the
grouping of these varied
companies under a single
divisional banner really
mean? It means that all
the companies of SAirServices work closely together
in a kind of “virtual network”, aligning and coordinating their products and
services to ensure that they
meet the customer’s needs as
completely and comprehensively as possible. To take just
one example, if Swissport International takes over the
ground handling at Cape
Town Airport for a number of carriers, its airline
and airport customers might well
want to make use of Atraxis’s sophisticated Departure Control System,
too. In promoting interlinks and synergies of this kind, SAirServices can
create a chain of services that offer
the passenger a smooth and seamless
air travel experience. In fact, it’s pre-
SR Technics –
cost-effective aircraft
maintenance
As the independent successor to
Swissair’s reputed engineering and
maintenance division, SR Technics
can draw on an impeccable pedigree
of quality and reliability. SR Technics
is not only responsible for the overhaul and maintenance of the entire
Swissair aircraft fleet; it is also entrusted
with the technical care of the fleets of
other airline clients. In fact, some 50
per cent of its total capacity is devoted
to third-party customers outside the
SAirGroup.
SR Technics offers the full
range of maintenance and
overhaul services for
Boeing, McDonnell
Douglas and Airbus aircraft at its
Zurich and Shannon bases, right
up to heavy
maintenance visits – the major
stripdown
overhauls that
each aircraft
undergoes
every few years.
The company is
constantly adding
to its range of services, too: preparations are currently
under way to handle
the new Airbus A330
and A340, which are joining the fleets of Swissair and
its airline partners over the next few
years.
Swissport makes
SAirServices happen
Swissport – a world
leader in cost-effective
ground handling
“Everything has to be just right” –
Swissport’s slogan says it all.As many
international airports around the
world are readied for privatisation,
4 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999
graphically diverse
as Turkey, Puerto
Rico,Germany and
Brazil. The expansion is likely to continue: Swissport has set itself the clear
goal of becoming one of the biggest
ground handling providers in the
world.
Of course, no airline today can succeed without effective ground handling. The quality services that Swissport offers its fellow companies in the
SAirGroup – and Swissair and Crossair in particular – are a key factor in
those companies’ and the group’s success. It is a success that heartens
Swissport and all its personnel, and a
sign that the company is excellently
positioned for the years ahead, whatever challenges growing liberalisation
and intensifying competition may
bring. Because whatever surprises the
future may hold for the air transport
world, one thing is certain: effective
ground handling has never been needed more.
Hans Klaus
INSIDE
QUALITY MANAGEMENT ■ Swissport
introduces ISO 9002 worldwide
A milestone on
the TQM road
Swissport Zurich, the Swissport
International group’s biggest operation with some 2000 personnel,
successfully obtained ISO 9002
certification at the end of September. And Swissport Geneva and
Basel were set to receive this quality seal of approval in December
1998.
I N T O D AY ’ S M A R K E T environment of increasing liberalisation
and ever-toughening competition,
Swissport is more determined than
ever to meet its customers’ quality expectations, however high they may be.
“In obtaining ISO 9002 certification,
we are undertaking to maintain and
further develop a system of permanent enhancement of our services and
our products, to the benefit of all our
customers,”says Willy Hallauer,Swissport Zurich’s President and CEO.
But what exactly does it mean for
a customer to work together with a
ground handling company that applies the ISO 9002 norm? Barbara
Zweifel, Vice President Finance &
Planning, explains:“Swissport Zurich
has three main areas – passenger
handling, baggage handling and
aircraft handling – in which all the
workflows and procedures are now
documented in detail. It was a lot of
work, but it was very important work,
too.”
“ISO certification
is a real milestone
for us on our road
to total quality
management.”
“The main benefit, though, is for our
customers,” Zweifel continues. “ISO
9002 gives them total transparency
for all the various workflows. It’s a
kind of guarantee, if you like, that the
standards we’ve agreed for each area
of our activity – ramp services, baggage
sorting, aircraft cleaning, passenger
assistance, gate services, lost-andfound and so on – will always be met,
regardless of who is actually doing the
work concerned.”
“Our ISO 9002 certificate really makes
us something of a pioneer in the ground
handling business,”adds Simon Widmer,
Swissport Zurich’s Vice President
Marketing. “And make no mistake:
our commitment to ISO 9002 is far
more than a paper one. ISO 9002 is a
clear promise from our Executive
Management and our personnel to
keep faithfully to all our contractual
agreements and work continually to
make them as beneficial as possible to
everyone concerned.”
Customer benefit counts
One of the most crucial conditions of
ISO certification is its insistence that
every certified company should ap-
point its own quality management
officer.The duties of the officer are to
conduct internal quality audits, and to
assist in quality audits conducted by
outside parties.They are also expected
to submit monthly quality reports to
the company’s top management.
“Our ISO 9002
workflows and
procedures have
to be regularly
checked.
This allows us
to identify
sources
of errors and
take the relevant
action without
delay.”
“Customer benefit is definitely centrestage in all these activities,” says
Hansjörg Meyer, the Quality Management Officer for Swissport Zurich.
Meyer is convinced that, with the individual security that each employee
now has through having a clearer picture of the workflows involved and
their own personal role, Swissport will
be even better able to adapt its ground
handling services to individual and
special customer needs.“In this sense,”
he concludes, ”ISO certification is a
real milestone for us on our road to
total quality management.”
The Swissport Zurich ISO 9002 team can be proud of what they have achieved. From left: Simon Widmer, Vice President
Marketing & Communications; Hansjörg Meyer, Quality Management Officer; Barbara Zweifel, Vice President Finance
& Planning; Pit Lehmann and Walter Streuli, Managers Purchasing & Ground Support Equipment.
Joe Fritsche
The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 5
NETWORK
Some of the more than 300 customers served by
Swissport International around the world
Adria Airways
Aer Lingus
Aeroflot
Air Canada
Air Engiadina
Air India
Air Lanka
Air Littoral
Air Malta
Air Mauritius
Air Nostrum
Air One
Air Seychelles
Alitalia
American Airlines
AOM
Austrian Airlines
Avioimpex
Balair/CTA
Balkan Bulgarian Airlines
Base Airlines
British Airways
British Midland
Cathay Pacific
China Airlines
Cie Corse Méditerrannée
Croatia Airlines
Crossair
Cyprus Airways
Czech Airlines
Delta Air Lines
Egyptair
El Al
Emirates
Eurowings
Finnair
Iberia
Icelandair
Japan Airlines
JAT
KLM
Korean Air
Kuwait Airways
Lauda Air
LOT
Lufthansa
Luxair
Maersk Air
Malaysia Airlines
Malev
Meridiana
Middle East Airlines
Olympic Airways
Pakistan International
Regional Airlines
Royal Air Maroc
Royal Jordanian
Sabena
SAS
Saudi Arabian Airlines
Singapore Airlines
Sobelair
South African Airlines
Swissair
TAP Air Portugal
Tatra Air
Thai Airways
Tunis Air
Turkish Airlines
Tyrolean Airways
VASP
6 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999
K E Y F I G U R E S F O R 19 9 8
Number of employees
Revenue (USD)
6 580
415 000 000
Passengers handled p.a.
35 200 000
Aircraft handled p.a.
343 000
Hamburg
London
Berlin
Düsseldorf
Frankfurt
Stuttgart
Basel
Munich
Zurich
Geneva
Istanbul
Ankara
Izmir
Bodrum
Antalya
Dalaman
NETWORK
San Juan
Tel Aviv
Cairo
Manaus
Fortaleza
Recife
Salvador
Brasilia
Nairobi
Rio de Janeiro
São Paulo
Johannesburg
Durban
Cape Town
Trabzon
Adana
L O C AT I O N
ENTITY
London
Swissport
Jan 97
Düsseldorf
aerogate*
Dec 97
Frankfurt
aerogate*
Jan 99
Berlin
aerogate*
Jan 98
Hamburg
aerogate*
Jan 98
Stuttgart
aerogate*
Nov 97
Munich
aerogate*
Nov 97
Adana
Havas*
Sep 97
Ankara
Havas*
Sep 97
Antalya
Havas*
Sep 97
Bodrum
Havas*
Sep 97
Dalaman
Havas*
Sep 97
Istanbul
Havas*
Sep 97
Izmir
Havas*
Sep 97
Trabzon
Havas*
Sep 97
Tel Aviv
Q.A.S.*
Nov 96
Nairobi
Swissport
Sep 97
Johannesburg
Swissport
Jan 98
Cape Town
Swissport
Jan 98
Durban
Swissport
Jan 98
São Paulo
Swissport
Jun 97
Rio de Janeiro
Swissport
Jun 97
Manaus
Swissport
Apr 98
Fortaleza
Swissport
Apr 98
Brasilia
Swissport
Mar 98
Recife
Swissport
Aug 98
Salvador da Bahia
Swissport
Jul 98
Puerto Rico
Swissport
Nov 97
Cairo
EAS*
Jan 97
* joint venture with Swissport
O P E R AT I O N A L A S O F
P L A N N E D F O R 19 9 9
France
Greece
Italy
Spain
Peru
Argentina
and some other key projects currently
under way (subject to approval).
The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 7
OUR CUSTOMERS
“Most of the increase in traffic that we’ve seen in 1997 and 1998 has been in connecting passengers.”
INTERVIEW ■ with Paul Reutlinger, President and CEO of Sabena
“I give our ground
handlers excellent marks.”
How does Sabena, a key Swissport customer, view the products
and services of the SAirGroup’s
ground handling company? We
visited Paul Reutlinger, President
and CEO of the Belgian-based airline, to solicit his views on the
latest industry developments – codeshares, alliances and hubs – and
his honest opinion of the Swissport
service product.
cent of us through its subsidiary SAirLines. I must admit I did say “Swissair” a few times at the start when
I meant to say “Sabena”. But not any
more! I’ve become quite a “Sabenien”
now.
Swissreporter: Mr. Reutlinger, next
spring you’ll be celebrating forty years
of service with Swissair and the SAirGroup. Your blood must have little
white crosses in it! So how easy was it
for you to swap clothes and become a
Sabena man?
I think we can be very proud of our
European network. We’ve got no
fewer than eleven destinations in
France, for instance.
Paul Reutlinger: I found it pretty
easy, actually, for a number of reasons. One of them was the strong
similarities between Swissair and my
new company. They’re both the airlines of a small country with a small
home market. And don’t forget that
we’re an airline of the SAirGroup,
too: the SAirGroup owns 49.5 per
You’re keen to turn Brussels into a real
European hub for Sabena. Does that
mean you want to focus more on your
European network?
“A good hub will
create extra traffic
itself.”
We have over 110 flights a day between Belgium and the UK. And we
opened our 75th European destination a few days ago.This whole exten-
8 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999
sive European network is centred on
our Brussels hub, which, fortunately
for us, is in a great position geographically for north-south and eastwest traffic. Our long-haul network is
fairly small in comparison. So our
next efforts will be focused on growing our long-haul routes, especially to
and from the Far East.
You also aim to make Brussels the hub
with the shortest transfer times – 25 minutes is the figure we hear. With a
connecting time as short as this, will
you still be able to offer the kind of
ground handling standards you want –
like making sure that all the baggage is
properly handled and loaded onto the
right flights?
This minimum connecting time is a
vital element in ensuring the competitiveness of our product. It’s a goal
of the Qualiflyer Group, too, by the
way, and one I wholeheartedly support. In fact, we’ve got our minimum
transfer time for Brussels down to 30
minutes already.
How did you manage that?
We’ve only been able to achieve this
by introducing a totally new installation. It’s called the Quick Transfer
Centre, and it’s home to all the services – security, the police, the customs authorities and so on. On top of
that, we’ve introduced a sophisticated
system of Care Teams to collect people
with tight connections from the
aircraft when they arrive, take them
by bus to the Quick Transfer Centre,
process them there and then take
them to their onward flight. It’s
proved very popular: most of the increase in traffic that we’ve seen in
1997 and 1998 has been in connecting
passengers.
Quick connections are probably very
popular with business travellers, aren’t
they?
Yes, but it’s not so much the quickness
of the connection that’s important; it’s
what we call the “elapsed travel time”
– the total time it takes you to get from
A to C via B.
OUR CUSTOMERS
How do you mean?
Well, it’s the elapsed travel time that
determines where your connection
will appear on a computer screen display when the passenger comes to
book their flight.
“I think we can
be very proud
of our European
network.”
If your elapsed travel time is short
enough, you’ll be on the first screen,
and you’ll be as close to the top of it
as possible. That’s a huge advantage:
studies have shown that 85 per cent of
all bookings all over the world are
made on flights that appear on the
first screen display.
Ground handling vital
How would you rate ground handling
in terms of its importance to Sabena’s
entire service chain?
Very high. Let’s face it, the battle for
customers today is fought on the
ground, not in the air. So the better
you are on the ground, the faster, more
efficient and friendlier your personnel, then the better your overall product will be.
Here in Brussels, Sabena has its own
extensive ground handling organisation. But how can you win the
“battle on the ground” if you outsource those activities to a specialist
ground handling company like Swissport?
If we outsource our ground handling,
we must have a cast-iron guarantee
that these activities are going to be
performed professionally, that the
company can offer them at a competitive rate, and that it can do all this
while still conveying our corporate
identity to our customers. When it
“The quality of its
ground handling
is a vital factor in
any airline’s
success.”
formance, its customer focus and its
service-provider potential?
I think the infrastructure is the most
important thing of all – short distances, no major obstacles, that kind
of thing. If the infrastructure is right,
the rest should fall into place.
A professional approach
And what expectations does Sabena
have of a specialist ground handling
company?
A professional attitude and approach; friendliness with customers;
and a check-in system that works flawlessly, of course. If, as a customer airline, you can find a company that performs ground handling as its core
business and has the critical mass to
make it worthwhile investing in advanced systems, workflows and training for its staff, you’re onto a very
good thing.
As a member of the Qualiflyer Group,
are you obliged to choose Swissport as
your ground handling partner, or are
you free to choose your ground handler yourselves?
We’re free. We have, it’s true, established a company within the Qualiflyer
Group that belongs to all of its members. The idea of Qualiflyer Ground
Services is to buy-in ground handling
for the group’s member airlines in
Europe, beyond their various home
markets. When it comes to do so,
Swissport is just one of a number of
candidate providers.
You travel between Brussels and
Zurich quite a lot yourself, so you must
be pretty familiar with Swissport’s products from first-hand experience. Your
impressions?
I’m always pleasantly surprised at
how friendly and obliging the people
are. I always find myself wondering: is
it because they know who I am, or are
they like this with all their customers?
But when I talk to our Belgian customers, they tell me that Swissport’s
product in Zurich really is something
rather special. They really do have
“Let’s face it, the battle for customers today is fought on the ground, not in the
air.”
friendly staff who do their job with a
minimum of fuss and a maximum of
speed.
Do you think we are going to see
more outsourcing within the airline
business?
Among the best
I think so. I think we’ll see more and
more airlines returning increasingly
to their core business of flying people
from one place to another, and outsourcing all their other activities.
With the kind of job you have, you
must have experienced a lot of ground
handling operations all over the world.
How would you rate Swissport’s services by comparison with them? If we
gave you a scale of one to ten, for instance, with ten as the best mark, what
grade would you give?
If I think of Swissport’s services in
Zurich, I’d have to put them right up
among the best in the business. I’d
give them a nine, I think.
So there is room for improvement…?
Not really. That missing point is more
of a reflection of Zurich Airport as a
whole. I think the infrastructure really
needs to be improved.
In what way?
If you’re a passenger at a bus gate during one of the peak times, you’ll find
it very hard to find a seat. I think an
airport needs to be a “living organism”,
too: it needs to set trends, exude a certain style, appeal to the senses, and
offer its users an experience of some
kind. I must say, though, that Zurich is
making some efforts here.
And I would say that the better and
more competitively a specialist operator can do these other jobs – Swissport is a good example in the ground
handling field – the bigger the chance
that an airline will ask them to do so.
How do you see the airline industry
developing as a whole?
I think we’re going to see greater and
greater consolidation into large interairline alliances. As President of
Sabena, it’s very important to me that
we are part of one of these big families, too.
Do you see any developments in the
sector that will only affect Sabena?
No strategic ones, no: all of these
would have to be discussed and coordinated with Swissair and the rest of
the Qualiflyer Group. In this sense,
we certainly see no value in developing our own set of alliance accords.
What we will continue to do is conclude route-specific partnerships,
much like Swissair has done on its Far
East routes. I’m sure this is the best
approach: rather than compete with
each other head-on all the time, it can
often make far more sense to work
together.
comes to the service chain, the “provider authority” should always remain with the airline. Swissport can
do all this: with its dedicated services,
it has already shown its customer airlines that it can represent their interests and still look after their passengers as if the carrier were doing
this itself.
As President and CEO of Sabena,
what would you say are the most important things you expect from a ground
handling company in terms of its per-
“I find Swissport
friendly,
professional and
quick.”
Thank you for your time.
“In my personal experience, Swissport’s staff really do get on with their job with
a minimum of fuss and a maximum of speed.”
Interview and photos:
Christian P. Somogyi
The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 9
NEWSBRIEFS
Swissport news and views fro
Q.A.S. enjoys success in
private and corporate
market
Q.A.S. of Tel Aviv has developed a
Special Flights Team dedicated to the
private and corporate flight market.
The move reflects the company’s conviction that this market sector will see
further growth in both volume and
revenue terms.
Q.A.S. has recruited a wide range of
customers over the last two years.
Many of them are “frequent travellers”, meaning the company gets to
handle their flights at least more than
once. Q.A.S has also developed an excellent reputation for itself within the
companies sending it the clients: its
ability to arrange landing permits at
relatively short notice, its full-services package including reduced
fuel prices along with VIP
hotel accommodation, catering and transportation,
and above all the personal
attention provided by the
Special Flights Team all combine to provide a top-quality
VIP corporate handling service.
Clients already recruited include Jet Aviation, Business
Jets, Aeroleasing Geneva
& Ukraine,Air Routing
International and
Baseops Europe.
The latest addition
to the client roll is
JET-LINK, an Israeli-based operator
with a fleet of five executive jets.
For further information contact:
The Q.A.S. Special Flights Team
Phone 00972 3 9730365 / 9733099 /
9712557 (24-hour service)
Fax
00972 3 9730365
E-mail qasiltd@netvision.net.il
Eyal Sagi
How Swissport is ensuring
Year 2000 compliance
Swissport takes the Year 2000 issue
very seriously indeed. Over the past
twelve months, a team of senior employees has been working to identify
all possible problem areas, inventorising hundreds of computer applications,
infrastructure elements and business
relations. As a result, the group now
knows exactly what needs to be certified as Year 2000-compliant.
At the individual Swissport company
level, each CEO is assuming direct responsibility for ensuring that their organisation achieves overall Year 2000
compliance. And each CEO is sup-
ported in these endeavours by their
own dedicated team.
Group.2000 is the central task force
appointed to ensure Year 2000 compliance throughout the SAirGroup.
Swissport’s Chief Information Officer, who is a member of the task force,
is in overall charge of Y2K activities
within the Swissport International
group.
In fact, Swissport has already achieved
Year 2000 compliance with its core
computer applications. Since
the group and its activities are closely linked to
the
airport authorities,
air traffic
control
and
many
other
airport
service
suppliers, Swissport has set up a comprehensive programme with its main
airports of Zurich, Geneva and Basel.
At all other stations,Swissport is working with IATA to ensure that each station will be audited for its Year 2000
compliance and a compliance statement issued in the light of these activities.
Swissport will conform to British
Standards Institute (BSI) Year 2000
compliance criteria. In doing so, it will
offer all its customers the comfort of
receiving the same top-quality ground
handling services before, during and
after the millennium change.
Urs von Euw
10 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999
ATMOS: a worldwide
survey on social climate
The Executive Management of Swissport International, in agreement with
all Country Managers, is conducting a
worldwide survey on the social climate
within the Swissport International
group. The project, which goes under
the name of ATMOS, is being led by
ProMind Consulting Ltd., a company
based in Lausanne, Switzer-
land.
The aim of
the survey is to
listen to staff
and obtain a
precise picture
of how they feel
about their current situation within their company and the
Swissport International group. The
survey covers a broad range of topics
including company structure and objectives, management, the employee’s
own field of activity, the efficiency of
existing workflows and procedures,
and satisfaction with working conditions and the job as a whole.
The survey was conducted simultaneously in the first two weeks of November in all countries where Swissport International is represented.The
responses are currently being evaluated.The Swissport International group
plans to make such surveys a regular
event, to monitor general contentment within its companies’ ranks.
Joseph In Albon
Studying baggage
handling operations
in Zurich
Three staff members from the Singapore Airport Terminal Services
(SATS) Baggage Unit visited Zurich
Airport recently to study and understand the working of the baggage
handling system at one of Europe’s
best airports.
Baggage Supervisors Catherine Chong
and S. Kanapathy and Baggage Officer Mutaliff Irnapullah made the
visit at the invitation of SATS’ client, Swissair.They spent three days
with Swissair’s ground handling
agent Swissport and SIA Station
Manager Zurich B.Sachithananthan. They observed the functioning of the baggage
handling system, the baggage reconciliation system (BRS),the baggage
transfer facility, lost
and found, and other
aspects of baggage
operations.
Many features of the
baggage operations system in Zurich are similar
to those in Singapore,
and the baggage experts
made the most of their
visit, discussing with
Swissport staff operational matters – including constraints and
problems faced by
baggage handlers –
and ways to improve
work methods.
Said Catherine:“It was a good
learning experience to watch the
Swiss baggage boys in action. I was
very impressed with their efficiency
and good work attitude.”
In the team’s report, several good
practices adopted by Swissport were
highlighted, and recommendations
made for SATS to adopt some of the
BRS procedures.
(from “Outlook” the in-house newspaper of the Singapore Airlines Group)
Swissport pulls out all
the stops in Puerto Rico
The good life of Puerto Rico was rudely interrupted on September 21 when
Hurricane Georges arrived in mid-afternoon. Within a couple of terrifying
hours, the hurricane had done incredible damage all over the island, ripping open buildings, tearing off
roofs, replanting trees in the middle of
highways and turning streets into furious torrents.
NEWSBRIEFS
m all over the world
Luckily, none of Swissport’s local staff
were injured; indeed, apart from a few
baggage carts, even the company’s
equipment was left largely intact.
There was, however, no power, no water and no means of communication.
San Juan Airport was declared closed
all day on September 22. But the very
next morning, some reduced flight activity resumed; and so Swissport, too,
had to swing back into action. It did
so,with a much-reduced crew,no power,
no water and only one telephone line.
Under these extremely difficult conditions, all our employees showed tremendous dedication to their job.
The staff at Swissport Puerto Rico did
a fantastic job recently under extremely difficult conditions.
The following days were to prove
even more hectic, as an air bridge of
charters – Boeing 747s,Antonovs, US
Air Force aircraft and more – landed
day and night bringing relief supplies,
generators, water, food, and even ice
cubes (seeing 29 pallets of ice cubes
unloaded from a 747 is a sight to remember!). The activity was so hectic,
in fact, that parking stands and warehouse space were soon at a premium.
But of one resource there was never
any shortage – the dedication and enthusiasm of Swissport’s local staff.
Jacques Delessert
Top managers make a
splash
Swissport International held its firstever Management Meeting for the
CEOs and Vice Presidents of all its
member companies at the end of Au-
The first-ever meeting of Swissport
managers from all over the world: total focus during the sessions…
…and total commitment to their riverrafting voyage!
gust, when these top executives descended on the mountain resort of Engelberg in Central Switzerland. Over
60 managers attended, representing
more than 20 Swissport stations all
over the world. The attendees spent
two days of intensive working sessions
listening to brief presentations from
Swissport International Executive
Management on the corporate policy,
goals and strategies of the rapidlygrowing group.The event also offered
an opportunity for the various executives to get to know each other a little
better, courtesy of a traditional Swiss
Evening Meal.There had been talk of
a test of courage in store for all attendees – bungy jumping out of the cable
car up to local Mount Titlis. But the rumours proved unfounded; so it was
with a strange sense of relief that the
group’s top managers clambered into
rubber dinghies for a teambuilding
riverrafting experience on the River
Aa instead.
Dieter Altenburger
ducted by Swissport Zurich in close
collaboration with the Zurich Airport
Authority, Jet Aviation and the Swiss
Federal Railways to extend the service to other air carriers. With the results of the trial run now evaluated,
the partners have set themselves the
clear aim of introducing full check-in
(with seat reservation and boarding
card) for all scheduled and charter
carriers at 23 Swiss rail stations from
summer 1999.
Simon Widmer
Swissport Zurich treats
customers and airport
partners
Swissport Zurich took great pleasure
in inviting the management of all its
customer airlines and its main airport
partners, along with their spouses, to
its first dinner-dance on November
3. The whole evening was arranged
around a surprise excursion, and
every effort was made to keep the two
destinations a secret. The event
kicked off with a guided tour and
cocktails at Zurich Zoo.After this, the
100 or so guests were taken on for
a delicious candlelight dinner at the
“Giardino Verde” or “Green Garden”
– not a garden, in fact, but a former
nursery now converted into a select
jungle-style restaurant available to
private groups.
Published by:
Swissport International Ltd. –
an SAirServices company
Publishers:
Stephan Beerli, Vice President
Marketing & Sales, Swissport
International Ltd.
E-mail: sbeerli@sairgroup.com
Hans Klaus
Corporate Communications
SAirServices
E-mail: hklaus@sairgroup.com
Editor-in-chief:
Christian P. Somogyi
E-mail: cps@datacomm.ch
Contributors to this issue:
Dieter Altenburger
Stephan Beerli
Jacques Delessert
Joe Fritsche
Joseph In Albon
Hans Klaus
Eyal Sagi
Christian P. Somogyi
Urs von Euw
Simon Widmer
Translations:
SAirGroup Translations
Layout and art direction:
Caroline Lipp, DAZ
Printing:
DAZ, Druckerei Albisrieden AG
Zurich
Editorial and production office:
CPS Communications, Zurich
Phone: +41 1 252 20 27
Fax: +41 1 260 65 24
Publication:
Three times a year.
Letting the train take the
strain
Zurich and Geneva airports have
long been fully linked into the Swiss
rail system. Both airports can be
reached quickly and smoothly via
inter-city trains from almost every
part of the country. For a few years
now, that journey has been even more
comfortable and convenient than before. The unique Fly Baggage system
enables air travellers leaving from
Zurich or Geneva and getting to the
airport by train to hand in their baggage at their local rail station and
have it checked through to their air
destination.
The Swiss railways also offer the possibility of checking in for the flight at
some 20 Swiss rail stations. Up till
now, this “full-check-in” service has
only been available for travellers on
Swissair, the airlines of the Qualiflyer
Group and Balair/CTA. But from October 1 to 31, a pilot project was con-
Swissport Zurich’s customer airlines
and key airport partners enjoy the
company’s first surprise excursion,
which ended up at the “Giardino Verde”.
After the meal Willy Hallauer, President and CEO of Swissport Zurich,
thanked all the company’s partners
for their continued business and the
excellent cooperation that Swissport
had enjoyed with them in 1998. The
festivities were concluded with an
exotic floorshow with two “snakepeople”, live music and dancing.
Simon Widmer
Subscriptions:
Free subscriptions are available for
management personnel of airlines
and other selected companies.
Please send your subscription registration, together with your full
address, to the Swissreporter Information Desk.
Changes of address:
Please send details of any change of
address (by returning your mailing
label with the changes clearly indicated) and any other correspondence regarding subscriptions to
the Swissreporter Information Desk,
Fax: +41 1 812 90 94.
Printed in Switzerland.
© 1999 Swissport International
Ltd., Zurich Airport, Switzerland.
Swissreporter Information Desk:
Phone: +41 1 812 49 54
Fax: +41 1 812 90 94
Internet: www.swissport.ch
The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 11
POSTSCRIPT
CEO BOX
Switzerland
Swissport Zurich Ltd.
P.O. Box
8058 Zurich Airport
Willy Hallauer, President & CEO
Phone: +41 1 812 61 70
Fax: +41 1 812 91 95
SITA: ZRHKSSR
Swissport Genève SA
P.O. Box
1215 Geneva Airport
Ernest Hochuli, President & CEO
Phone: +41 22 799 30 10
Fax: +41 22 799 31 67
SITA: GVAOKSR
Swissport Basel Ltd.
P.O. Box
4030 Basel Airport
Georg Peter, President & CEO
Phone: +41 61 325 23 00
Fax: +41 61 325 23 07
SITA: BSLKSSR
Brazil
Swissport means customer dedication
Swissport was established as a legally-autonomous ground handling company on January 1, 1997, as part of a broader reorganisation of the SAirGroup. The roots of our new company lay in Swissair’s former ground handling operations in Zurich, Geneva and Basel. And it was on the strength of
this experience and expertise that Swissport International set out to expand
its business and operations into countries all over the world. Now, after just
19 months of truly dynamic growth, Swissport operates at 32 airports in
Europe, the Middle East, South America and Africa, and numbers some 300
airlines among its customers.
Our strategy is a simple one: to develop a global network of ground handling
companies on the strength and the basis of the quality services we provide.
Wherever Swissport is around, its customer airlines can count on services
with a “Swiss quality” label.Well-trained managers, qualified and motivated
personnel, and state-of-the-art computer systems and equipment – these are
our trump cards in everything we do. Plus, of course, our central Quality
Assurance System, which is our customers’ guarantee that the principles of
the Swissport Quality handbook are applied all over the world.And our ISO
9002 certification, which we were scheduled to have for all three of our Swiss
operations – in Zurich, Geneva and Basel – by the end of 1998, and which
we should have for all our non-Swiss operations by the middle of 1999.
Swissport has set one principle above all else: customer dedication. Whatever our customers need to distinguish themselves and their product at the
airports they serve, we will provide it. An ongoing dialogue with our customers is a key component in all these endeavours.And the publication you
hold in your hands will be, we hope, one of our best vehicles of communication, helping us keep you fully informed about us and our activities, and
giving you the chance to tell us what’s on your mind.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Joseph In Albon
President & CEO
Swissport International Ltd.
Brasilia, Fortazela, Manaus, Salvador,
São Paulo, Recife, Rio de Janeiro
Swissport Brasil Ltda.
Aeroporto Internacional de
São Paulo
Terminal 2 / Asa C
Caixa Postal 3061
07141-970 Guarulhos – SP
Aldo Ferretti, President & CEO
Phone: +55 11 6445 22 02
Fax: +55 11 6445 24 89
SITA: GRUXHSR
Kenya
Nairobi
AirSide Ltd. / Swissport Kenya
Jomo Kenyatta International
Airport, Unit 2
P.O. Box 44549
Nairobi
Olav Everts, President & CEO
Phone: +254 2 82 20 20
Fax: +254 2 82 23 29
SITA: NBOKSSR
United Kingdom
London
Swissport U.K. Ltd.
Heathrow Airport
Terminal 2, Room 2065
Hounslow, Middlesex, TW6 1HG
United Kingdom
Carlyle Grey, President & CEO
Phone: +44 181 754 91 22
Fax: +44 181 759 78 26
SITA: LHRKSSR
Germany
C O N TA C T S
International
Swissport International Ltd.
P.O. Box, 8058 Zurich Airport
Joseph In Albon, President & CEO
Phone: +41 1 812 27 79
Fax: +41 1 812 93 34
SITA: ZRHDISR
Stephan Beerli, Vice President
Marketing & Sales
Phone: +41 1 812 49 50
Fax: +41 1 812 90 94
SITA: ZRHOXSR
Thomas Neff, Vice President
Business Development
Phone: +41 1 812 27 24
Fax: +41 1 812 93 34
SITA: ZRHDISR
Dieter Altenburger, Vice President
Finance
Phone: +41 1 812 26 50
Fax: +41 1 812 90 94
SITA: ZRHOXSR
12 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999
Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg,
Munich
aerogate
P.O. Box 231533
85324 Munich Airport, Germany
Werner Teubner, General Manager
Phone: +49 89 9759 23 00
Fax: +49 89 9759 22 34
SITA: MUCKK8X
Stuttgart, Frankfurt
aerogate
P.O. Box 14, Terminal 2
60549 Frankfurt, Germany
Hermann Delliehausen,
President & CEO
Phone: +49 69 6980 99 51
Fax: +49 69 6980 99 50
SITA: FRAKSSR
Puerto Rico
San Juan
Swissport Puerto Rico Inc.
150 Carr. Sector Central
L.M.M. International Airport
Suite 14
Carolina, P.R. 00979
Jacques Delessert, President & CEO
Phone: +1 787 791 48 28
Fax: +1 787 791 30 95
SITA: SJUKKSR
South Africa
Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg
Swissport South Africa
P.O. Box 111
Johannesburg International Airport
Johannesburg, South Africa
Armin Unternährer,
President & CEO
Phone: +27 11 928 85 26
Fax: +27 11 928 85 47
SITA: JNBOWXH
Israel
Tel Aviv
Q.A.S. – Quality Airport Services
P.O. Box 136
Ben Gurion International Airport
70100 Tel Aviv
Yossi Raviv, President & CEO
Phone: +972 3 971 25 57
Fax: +972 3 971 23 16
SITA: TLVKKCR
Turkey
Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum,
Dalaman, Istanbul, Izmir, Trabzon
HAVAS
Prof. Nurettin Öktem Sk. No. 2
80260 Sisli – Istanbul
Jean-Didier Savioz,
President & CEO
Phone: +90 212 233 24 84
Fax: +90 212 233 38 53
SITA: ISTGMXH
FEEDBACK, PLEASE!
Our new customer journal is intended to keep you fully briefed of
all developments in the range of
our activities, the breadth of our
services, the extent of our network
and the skills and expertise of our
staff. But that’s not all: we want to
include you – our customers – in
“Swissreporter”, too. So please
write, fax or e-mail us or use the
enclosed questionnaire to tell us
what you think of our first “Swissreporter”, so that we can tailor
Issue Two even more closely to
your wishes and needs.
We look forward to your feedback!