Building a service culture company!

International customer journal
Swissport International Ltd.
Issue 2
June 1999
6 –7
Josef Felder
A privatised
Zurich Airport is
vital to the Swiss
economy.
10
Frank R. van
Paasschen
Good ground handling is essential to
airline operations.
11
Olivier Willi
Carriers, too, are
working on new
ground handling
scenarios.
15
Joseph
In Albon
Swissport is ready
and fit for the new
challenges ahead.
SWISSPORT WORLDWIDE ■ Its Swissport management agreement has provided Turkey’s
Havas ground handling company with a wealth of valuable expertise.
Building a service culture
company!
It was back in February 1997 that
Swissport International concluded
a management agreement with
Havas, Turkey’s leading ground
handling company. One year later,
in March 1998, Swissport underpinned its collaboration by acquiring a 40 % equity holding in its
new partner. Havas today has
around 1500 personnel, is active
at nine international airports in
Turkey and generates an annual
turnover of some USD 53 million.
J E A N - D I D I E R S A V I O Z is
justly proud of what Havas has achieved
over the last couple of years. Under
the terms of the original management
agreement in February 1997, Savioz
was appointed General Director and
a Member of the Board, with responsibility for the company’s overall corporate development. As one of the
two major ground handlers in Turkey,
Havas provides ground services for
some 200 customer airlines at Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bodrum, Antalya,
Dalaman, Adana, Trabzon and Corlu
airports. What is particularly interesting about Havas is the range of
the services it offers. In addition to
conventional ground handling functions such as passenger services, ramp
services, cargo handling and operations, the company also operates VIP
lounges and lost-and-found services
and, in Istanbul and Ankara, it even
runs the airport car parks. In Istanbul,
New corporate clothes: a group of Havas employees proudly display the new uniforms introduced for all areas of the
company’s operations in mid-May.
Ankara, Izmir, Bodrum and Antalya
it is also Havas buses that provide the
only public transport between the airport and the town or city centre. The
Istanbul station, which contributes
some 50 per cent of the company’s
total turnover in Turkey, employs 920
personnel – 430 on the ramp, 250 in
passenger services, 130 in cargo, 70 in
operations and 40 in administrative
functions. The station currently handles around 45 aircraft a day for customers that include Swissair,Austrian
Airlines, Sabena, Iberia, Tarom, Alitalia, Singapore Airlines, Malev and
Delta Air Lines.
Big in the charter sector,
too
A further key feature of Havas is the
company’s strength in the charter
sector. Until Russian business suffered a sudden slump, Havas was
handling up to 200 Russian charter
customers a month at its Istanbul
SWISSPORT WORLDWIDE
approach we have found among its
personnel, we’ve been able to
introduce our Swissport quality
philosophy in no time at all.Though it
has, of course, demanded a good
deal of planning, equipment and
management tools.” Along with the
frontline empowerment and the clear
leadership concept that Savioz feels
are equally indispensable to a project
of this kind.
CUSTOMER VOICE
Excellent on
the ramp!
“The Havas
people
we
have working
for us really
are very customer-minded.
They know the workflows and
procedures, and they’re always
helpful and open to any requests
our customers may have when
they check in. But what I’m particularly impressed by is their
work on the ramp. If I compare
this with the service we get at
other international airports, I must
say that the Havas people are outstanding. As far as Swissport’s
management is concerned, all I
can say is that I feel the positive
benefit and the managing efforts
that Swissport International is
investing in the company.”
Giovanna Pagano,Alitalia Station
Manager, Istanbul Atatürk International Airport
base. It was an activity that demanded
considerable flexibility from everyone concerned: many of the passengers had been buying Turkish goods
in style, and additional “baggage
flights” often had to be handled and
loaded with around 50 tonnes of bags
in the shortest possible time. Further
charter business is handled at the southern destinations of Bodrum, Antalya, Izmir and Dalaman, though only
in the summer months. “There’s a
massive seasonal difference here,”
Savioz explains, “from two flights a
day in winter to eighty or more in the
summer season. And that, of course,
takes a lot of organisation.” Both sectors – the Russian charters and the
summer vacation flights – have re-
PA S S E N G E R S E R V I C E S
Up among
the best
“My prime objective is to
introduce the
Swissport quality mentality,
and get Havas
quality up among the best in the
world. We want to achieve the
same high standard of service at all
nine of our Turkish airports.”
In high-tech touch: Havas’ ramp personnel are in constant direct contact with their
operations centre.
Training: an investment
for tomorrow!
Havas has introduced a number of
important innovations under the new
Swissport management at its Istanbul
base – including the advanced DCS
computer check-in system. “Up until
recently, almost everyone was
checked in manually,” Station Manager Didier Steullet explains. “DCS
gives Havas a genuine USP over its
competitors.” To ensure that the
company and its customers derive
maximum benefit from the technology,
Ich mag die
Professionalität
“Ich liebe meine Arbeit und
ich liebe Havas, früher und
auch
heute!
Ich mag die Professionalität, mit
der wir hier heute arbeiten!“
Sehnaz Beriker, Red Cap
O P E R AT I O N S
An international
company
QUALITY CONTROL
I like the professionalism
“We want our
ground handling services
to reach a top
level of quality
that gives us a
clear edge over our competitors in
terms of reliability, customer focus
and value. And Swissport International’s worldwide quality assurance programme is a great help in
achieving this.”
Haluk Kurtuluş, Havas Quality
Control Manager
cently suffered sizable declines, the
former through the country’s financial difficulties and the latter through a
decrease in tourism to Turkey.“We’ve
had to scale back our own operations
at these stations, too,” Savioz contin-
Okan Soysal, Havas Passenger
Services Manager
Havas’ check-in staff are delighted with their state-of-the-art DCS applications.
ues, “though the last thing we want to
do is lose our skilled and qualified
staff.”
The Geneva threesome
A trio of managers from western
Switzerland – Jean-Didier Savioz as
General Director, Didier Steullet as
Station Manager Istanbul and Hansruedi Moser as Assistant General
Manager and Head of Operations, all
formerly active at Swissport Geneva,
have been asked to shape and guide
Havas’ corporate future. Savioz is
convinced that the knowledge transfer is of immense benefit to both
sides. “The people here were expecting us to arrive, and had a very positive attitude from the start. This
enabled us to quickly achieve a good
2 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999
mix of the good things that were in
place already and the new expertise
we were able to contribute. Havas has
always been a good and well-respected company, though it didn’t perhaps
quite have the kind of absolute commitment to quality that you need
nowadays. But with the positive
FA C T S & F I G U R E S
Havas
Total current workforce:
Passengers handled per year:
Number of contracted airlines:
Cargo handled in & out:
Turnover:
“Swissport has
given us a
really positive
basic attitude.
And
we’ve
made huge progress on the quality
front. It’s a different kind of
professional management now, in
which each one of us can develop
to the full.”
Murat Nursel, Havas Operations
Manager, Istanbul Atatürk International Airport
2 746 personnel
7 265 000
256
54 876 tonnes
USD 50, 5 million
The nine Turkish airports at which Havas currently operates are: Istanbul,
Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Dalaman, Adana, Trabzon, Bodrum and Corlu.
SWISSPORT WORLDWIDE
CUSTOMER VOICE
A worldstandard
company!
“Swissport is a
world-standard
company and
they provide
through Havas
a very good ground handling
service for us. They do our ramp
handling but in addition to that
they also provide all the special
services that we require. The
Havas people are always very
helpful and within IATA standards. From time to time we do our
safety audits with them and they
do comply with the items which
are required for British Airways
safety standards.”
Cumhur Gökmen, British Airways
Airport Manager Istanbul Atatürk
International Airport
The Havas operations centre ensures that every customer’s flight is met by all the ramp personnel and equipment it requires.
Havas has opted for the DCS of
Atraxis, Swissport’s sister company in
the SAirGroup. The aim is to get as
many Havas staff trained onto the
system before operations move into
the new international terminal on
January 1, 2000. “After all,” Steullet
explains,“half the airlines that will be
using the new terminal don’t have an
IT system of their own, but have been
told they have to link up to one by the
time they move. So our training is an
excellent investment for the future.”
CHECK-IN
Better
worktools
Turnaround achieved
Cenan Özekin, Check-in Supervisor, Istanbul Atatürk International Airport
And how have Havas’ staff taken to
the quality demands that the Swiss
management team have brought with
them? “Very, very well,” Steullet
replies. “We have excellent people
here with a thorough knowledge of
their field. They’re very eager to
learn, and they’re very open to new
ideas. All of which gives us an
excellent basis to build on.”
“We’ve set up our own training
scheme with in-house trainers,”
Steullet continues. “In passenger
services alone we have 250 staff who
RAMP
State-ofthe-art
equipment!
“Our ramp services offer a
full-service organisation. We
handle an average of 40 to 45 aircraft a day,
though before the crisis in Russia it
was often close to a hundred.We’re
very proud that we can perform all
these services using state-of-theart equipment, none of which is
more than two years old.”
Kartal Özçakir, Havas Ramp
Manager, Istanbul Atatürk International Airport
“Our check-in
people now
work with advanced worktools that really let us give
our customers what they need.
And I like the new uniform: this is
the first day I’ve worn it, and I’ve
had a lot of compliments already.”
are currently undergoing our inhouse instruction. It’s made a big difference to our personnel turnover,
too, which has fallen from 40 per cent
to between four and six per cent.
That’s the best proof we could have
that our people have a good feeling
about the company and are proud to
be part of a globally-active group.”
“Our long-term goal is to develop,
with our partners, a joint-venture
ground handling company that has a
pronounced service culture. With
management expertise, performance
evaluation
systems,
personnel
development, training and so on.
Havas is a brand, a symbol everybody
knows - all over Turkey, but especially
here in Istanbul. We don’t want to
change that; we do want to build
on it!”
Christian P. Somogyi
Photos: August Kehl
C O N TA C T
Havas, Prof. Nurettin Öktem
Sk.No.2, 80260 Sisli – Istanbul,
Turkey, tel. +90 212 233 24 84,
fax +90 212 233 38 53
SITA: ISTGMXH
PORTRAIT
Our man on the Bosphorus
Jean-Didier Savioz, who is 49 years
old, grew up in Canton Valais in the
French-speaking part of Switzerland. He joined Swissair in 1973,
initially working as a check-in agent
Jean-Didier Savioz
at Geneva Airport. He had actually
intended to stay just six months, or a
year at the most; it’s turned out to be
26 and counting. In all those years,
he has become intimately acquainted with all the aspects of the ground
handling sector.“Passenger services,
load control, the ramp – everything
except cargo,” he recalls. His duties
have included some interesting
stints abroad, too, including a spell
as Relief Station Manager in
Colombo, Sri Lanka. Before coming
to Turkey, Savioz was Managing Director of Swissport Geneva. He has
been in Istanbul since February 4,
1997, serving as General Director of
Havas and as a Member of the
Board. “For the first eight months I
hardly got out of the office,” he
recalls. But he was joined by his
wife and daughter in the autumn
of that first year, and the whole
family is now enjoying its
encounter with a new country and culture. His circle of
friends is drawn from the
personnel of the various
SAirGroup companies that
are active in Turkey, but also from his Turkish business
partners, his neighbours,
and his colleagues on the
golf course. Both he and his
wife have taken lessons in
Turkish, but the language is
a tough one to learn. He did
pass our little language test
– how to say “a kilo of
bread please” – with flying
colours. But mother and father’s language skills are
easily eclipsed by those of
their four-year-old daughter, who attends an international
school with many Turkish pupils.
Last year’s holidays were spent in
Bodrum, in the south of the country.
But vacations in Canton Valais are
very much on the agenda, too – especially for Jean-Didier, who admits
to missing the mountains. “I’m a ski
buff,” he explains,“and it was so easy
to head up into the Valais mountains
from where we were in Geneva.”
Anything else on the wish list? “I’ve
always wanted to play the piano,” he
admits. “And I’d like to go back to
the Himalayas, where I once got up
over 26 000 feet.”
CPS
The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999 – Swissreporter 3
SAirGroup
FLIGHTLEASE ■ Aircraft procurement: a whole new ball game
It’s the economics that count
It’s no longer technological advances that dictate the procedure for
selecting new aircraft; the economics come first. The SAirGroup
has paid due regard to this trend in
creating its Flightlease subsidiary.
Swissreporter spoke to Peter Gysel,
head of its Aircraft Purchasing and
Disposal unit.
A N A D V A N C E D , efficient and
environmentally-friendly fleet is an
essential part of Swissair’s market
image. But airlines no longer gain a
crucial competitive edge through
their aircraft’s technological capabilities. Not only do planes today look
more and more alike; they are largely
interchangeable in terms of their reliability, too.They frequently have the
same engines, components and computers on board. And the length and
quality of the flight is no longer determined by the features of this or
that jet, but by the overall service
chain. All-weather landing capability
was once a proud boast of the entire
Swissair fleet. Today it has become as
commonplace as a car’s dual-circuit
braking system. Aircraft are becoming increasingly similar in their
characteristics. “Unlike in the past,
manufacturers can no longer impress
travellers with superb features,” says
Peter Gysel, getting to the heart of
the matter. The profile of an airline is
determined by other factors.
to be: what could we add to improve
the economics of our operations,”
Gysel explains. Technological advances, when they do come, are not nearly
as great as they were a few years ago.
And even smaller-scale progress can
cost vast sums of money. Needless to
say, manufacturers and purchasers
both check carefully to see whether
such expensive investment is likely to
pay off, i.e. whether it can be converted into a tangible market benefit.
This is why Peter Gysel regards what
he refers to as “real engineering” as
providing only minor benefits for a
relatively high price. Fuel consump-
purchase of its first eight Fokker 100s
from its profit and loss account. But
with the gigantic volumes forecast for
the future, such actions are probably
a thing of the past.The main aim of all
fleet financing today is to tap sources
as effectively as possible, and not to
raise capital funds at any price.
A challenge for the
manufacturers, too
In today’s industry environment, it is
features that substantially enhance
profitability that stand the best – if
not the only – chance of success. As
Peter Gysel points out, the “flexible
A duopoly
Lower leaps
The above trends have clear consequences on the fleet planning and
purchasing front.“Whereas each new
type of aircraft used to exhibit new
capabilities that might allow you to
tap a new and additional market, the
question we ask ourselves today tends
F L I G H T L E A S E FA C T S
More and more airlines are coming to lease-in their aircraft rather
than own them outright. The leasing option offers the twin benefits
of tying less capital up and providing greater equipment flexibility.
Many carriers are also turning to
specialists to manage their leasedin fleets. Swissair and Balair/CTA
Leisure AG have entrusted their
jets to Flightlease AG,a fully-owned
subsidiary of the SAirGroup.
Flightlease owns these aircraft,
leases them to its sister Group
companies, and is also responsible
for their purchase, introduction
and disposal. Not that Flightlease
is restricting its activities to the airlines of the SAirGroup; it has a
growing number of outside customers, too.
cerned? Something new in the supersonic sector? “Speed alone does not
make for a breakthrough,” Gysel is
convinced.The market seems limited,
and it is only in the transpacific
market that greater speeds may hold
some appeal. It is questionable, too,
whether the market could bear the
higher fares such a product would
demand.And added to this, of course,
the environmental questions hanging
over supersonic flight are still far
from resolved. The prospects are better on the larger aircraft front. Here,
too, though, the development costs
are horrendous – eight to ten billion
dollars. Boeing is hesitating on
whether to enter the Very Large
Aircraft market: with its 747, it is already better established at the top
end of the market than Airbus Industrie. The European consortium is
working solidly on the A3XX, which
could round out its aircraft family
from 2004 onwards. And how do
things stand on the efficiency front?
Efficiencies could still be improved
by some 30 per cent, Peter Gysel
believes. New shapes and aerodynamics, improved engines with even
higher bypass ratios, operating temperatures and pressures would be
needed here. But there are tough nuts
to crack here, too: the physical limits
to reducing noise, and the problem of
pollutant emissions, to name just two.
tion, for instance, can only be reduced
still further at great expense; and in
many cases the bills for the additional
kerosene are now lower than the capital costs the new technology would
entail. As a result of these trends, “financial engineering” is coming to play
an increasingly important part in the
fleet planning process.“We can achieve
more nowadays by the way we raise
our capital and the terms on which
the aircraft is acquired,” Gysel explains. Capital costs have become one
of the most important influenceable
elements in the whole procurement
procedure. It was not always so: as recently as 1988, Swissair financed the
4 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999
family concepts” now adopted by the
main aircraft manufacturers are an
excellent example of this approach.
With its Airbus fleet, for instance,
Swissair is superbly and flexibly
equipped for both its long and shorthaul needs. Setting the right course
here is crucial to any airline’s survival:
because aircraft tend to remain in service for much longer nowadays (30
years instead of 10 to 15), and because
genuine innovations are becoming
rarer and rarer.
Faster? Bigger? Better?
So what is currently on the horizon as
far as new developments are con-
Has the disappearance of McDonnell
Douglas created a dangerous situation in the market for aircraft with
over 100 seats? Gysel has few worries
here. “Boeing and Airbus may work
together in individual specialist
areas,” he concedes;“but I see no danger of diminished competition and
the adverse effects this could have for
the customer. Market position and
competition will continue to determine prices,“ he continues.“And with
both manufacturers offering successful product families, the duopoly
will remain.Added to this, neither the
market players nor the supervisory
bodies would permit a monopoly to
arise. The duopoly situation works in
our favour, too, since it encourages
both manufacturers to cover the whole
market. In this sense,” Gysel continues,“it was clever of Boeing to keep
the 717 production line going. It’s
forced Airbus to respond with the
A318. And in the longer term Airbus
can’t afford to have a gap at the top
end of the market. So it’s not a
question of whether the A3XX will
round off the range; it’s a question of
when.”
Hans Klaus
INSIDE
WORLDWIDE NETWORK ■ Swissport is looking for partner ground handling companies
New partners
welcome!
Swissport has set itself the goal of
developing a worldwide network
of superior professional ground
handling operations. The company
is convinced that the ground handling sector will see considerable
consolidation over the next few
years, leaving a few major providers dominating the global market. The trend is sure to occur
because more and more airlines –
and the alliances they are increasingly merging into – will
want to work with a small number
of selected partners who know
their requirements, can provide
these at every airport they serve,
and can guarantee the same topquality services throughout their
operations.
S W I S S P O R T currently operates about 40 ground handling stations around the world.This means that
the company is already one of the bigger players in the ground handling
business, although there are still a few
white spaces on the Swissport map of
the world. To further increase its
worldwide market presence, Swissport is now looking for partnerships
with established local ground handling companies, seeking out candidates and conducting extensive discussions on a possible collaboration.
What can Swissport offer these partners, apart from the obvious benefits
of a stronger market presence? It can
offer its Swissport Quality Management System, its extensive expertise
in state-of-the-art IT applications, and
its wide experience in optimising
work processes.As a genuine business
partner, Swissport can also help bear
the cost of investing in advanced
ground handling equipment; and it
has a pool of experienced management personnel who can be seconded
to its partner companies on a short- or
long-term deployment.
Who might become
Swissport partners?
Swissport is looking for partner
ground handling companies that are
well established in their local market,
for airport operators with an interest
in ground handling, or for airlines
aiming to make their handling more
efficient in future by outsourcing it to
a proven specialist in the field. It’s a
process that has already begun: Swissport already operates partner and
joint-venture companies such as Havas in Turkey, QAS in Israel (in collaboration with the airline Arkia) and
Aerogate in Germany (together with
Munich Airport). Please see also the
“From the top” box on Page 15.
Thomas Neff
INFOBOX
Swissport is keen to talk to further
possible partners, with a view to
working together for joint development and success. If you would
like to know more, please contact
Thomas Neff, Vice President
Business Development, Swissport
(International) Ltd., P.O. Box,
CH-8058 Zurich Airport, phone:
+41 1 812 27 24, mobile: +41 79 405
31 00, e-mail: thneff@sairgroup.
com, fax: + 41 1 811 10 01, SITA:
ZRHDISR.
OPINION ■ Ground handling deregulation and liberalisation:
Is everything set to change?
Deregulation, liberalisation, change
management, open books, yield
erosion, cost effectiveness, growth,
tailor-made solutions, USPs: we
are all familiar with the latest
catchwords and slogans of our
times.
Anyone would have thought that
ground handling was something new.
Each and every airline and supplier
wants to be at the table for the great
roulette game, to ensure they do not
miss the biggest prize of all. Several
years ago the airlines showed what
deregulation and liberalisation really
mean.The size of a company, or more
precisely its network, became the big
issue, growth and volume the key factors for success, because units costs
can be sizably reduced if expenditure
is spread over as many units as possible: “economies of scale” was the
mantra of the day! With cost pressures rising all the time, the idea of
exploiting the synergies offered by
merging operations and combining
resources was hard to resist. Takeovers, joint ventures, marketing collaborations and,ultimately,the present
creation of alliances were the logical
C O N TA C T
Stephan Beerli, Vice President
Marketing & Sales,
Swissport International Ltd.
CH-8058 Zurich Airport
Phone: +41 1 812 49 50
Fax: +41 1 811 10 01
E-mail: sbeerli@sairgroup.com
SITA: ZRHOXSR
result. It is quite possible that this pattern will be repeated in the ground
handling field: the mechanisms, at any
rate, bear strong similarities. We are
already seeing smaller handling
agents joining forces with larger providers or integrating themselves into
franchising concepts. Even airports
themselves are seeking ways to converge and collaborate. Whichever
way we look at it: the monopolies will
disappear, though they may well be
replaced not by a liberalised market
order, but by new power blocs and alliances. Can we learn from the airlines’ experiences, or even do things
better? One thing is clear: we should
not lose sight of the essentials to any
service company of customer alignment (more convenience and effective irregularity handling), technology
(new databases, innovative applications and automated workflows),
management (skills, training, leadership, corporate identity and performance-based salaries), processes
(standardised solutions, shorter corporate channels and faster decisions)
and communication (one-to-one marketing, an Internet presence, special
entertainments and events). Does all
that sound strangely familiar? Well,
perhaps it should. Because if we all
see our work as a series of challenges
to be mastered every day, and if we
make the requisite progress as a result, we need not worry too much
about the broader developments in
the ground handling field. After all,
it’s not size alone that will determine
who ends up – and remains – on top.
Stephan Beerli
The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999 – Swissreporter 5
AIRPORT WORLD
INTERVIEW ■ with Josef Felder, Zurich Airport’s General Manager-designate
“It takes good partners
for an airport to work!”
A room with a view: Josef Felder appreciates looking out over his domain; and he feels the vista inspires his visitors, too.
Josef Felder, President and CEO of
the FIG Airport Real Estate Company
and General Manager-designate,
has the job of leading state-owned
Zurich Airport into privatisation.
Swissreporter wanted to know
what future he sees for Zurich Airport and what role the airport partner companies will need to play to
make a privatised airport a success.
Swissreporter: Mr. Felder, at the start
of this year you took on the challenging dual task of taking Zurich Airport
through its Phase Five Expansion and
into privatisation. As a dyed-in-thewool “airliner”, what motivated you
to take this job on?
Josef Felder: As a manager at Crossair I was responsible for traffic rights,
and so gained first-hand experience
of the deregulation and restructuring
of European airlines. At the same
time, I was able to observe how, with
this growing privatisation, the infrastructure – the airports as well as the
air traffic control services – lagged behind. The challenge of applying my
expertise to this task was my main
reason for making the change.
Zurich Airport is popular throughout
the world as a comfortable transfer
airport with short connections and
good infrastructure. Unfortunately, it
also seems to be bursting at the seams
during peak periods.As General Manager, what will you do to solve this problem?
The peak-time bottlenecks are a real
worry.Which is why we are pinning so
many hopes on getting our Phase Five
Expansion completed as soon as
possible. The whole thing has already
been planned down to the smallest
detail, of course, but is currently
being held up by various legal objections.
peaks. And new and innovative ideas
will be welcome here.
Could you imagine levying airport
charges on the basis of services used?
That’s an interesting idea! Airlines
make very great efforts for their Business Class passengers, although the
distinction is really only made in the
aircraft itself. First and Business Class
passengers are processed just like
everyone else on the ground. The
question is: could the airport provide
differentiated check-in services at different prices? It would be very exciting if Zurich Airport could play a
pioneering role here, within the context of its own privatisation.
Could you imagine controlling peak
traffic loads by introducing variable
“weak-and-peak” surcharges?
To what extent can a ground handling
company make a contribution here?
As a privatised airport we must find
ways to help us even out the current
It would have to be incorporated directly into this chain. Our ground
TRAFFIC FORECASTS FOR ZURICH AIRPORT
Year
2000
2005
2010
2015
Passengers in million
21.5
27.9
34
39
Movements in thousands 277
330
380
390
6 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999
2020
43
395
handlers have already done some
mould-breaking work in this respect,
with special check-in facilities, lounges, targeted customer care and priority baggage services.And Swissport
has been a particular pioneer on the
priority baggage front.
What is your personal view on the role
and importance of ground handling?
When I was in charge of the Crossair
product, I wanted to include ground
handling in our marketing from the
start, because I was convinced that
ground handling belongs not in operations but in product design.
Why?
Because the first contact the passenger has is not with the airline but with
the ground handler. And those are
very often two separate companies
nowadays.
Given that this function has often been
outsourced, is it still possible for the
airline to apply the “ground handling”
marketing tool the way it wants?
AIRPORT WORLD
No, it’s very difficult! And it’s been
especially hard for an airline to influence the performance of its ground
handlers at those airports which are
still state-run, which tend to have a
single monopolistic ground handling
organisation.
But that may be changing?
Global deregulation is bringing completely new challenges for the ground
handling companies, too. Ground
handlers today must be able to offer
airlines tailor-made solutions on the
service and price fronts if they want to
be successful in the marketplace.
Have you had hands-on experience in
collaborating with Swissport, through
your time at Crossair?
As one of its airline customers, I had
a grandstand view of the process by
which Swissport was spun off from
Swissair and turned into an independent entity. I liked what I saw: you
could feel a genuine change management process taking place.
And what is your experience of collaborating with Swissport now that
you are Zurich Airport’s General Manager-designate?
If it wants to enjoy long-term success
in the competitive environment it
works in, Swissport needs to be slim
and fit and able to offer products that
are carefully aligned to each customer
airline. With the processes that it has
introduced, Swissport has demonstrated that it can and wants to break
new ground.
You mentioned how important
ground handlers are for an airline’s
market image. How important do you
feel a ground handling company is for
the overall image of an airport, too?
Ground handling is one of the core
services that any airport provides. So
the ground handlers and their colleagues on the front line are an essential part of this overall image.
To what extent do you feel the airport
can influence the quality of its licensees – ground handlers or other companies?
I think it would be completely wrong
if we as an airport were to offer ground
handling services or run restaurants
or shops. Our role must be that of a
regulator which works together with
the providers to establish clear quality
objectives and the overall parameters
for the services required.
Will a newly-privatised Zurich Airport
provide management or consultancy
services, too?
The structure of the new airport company will be clearly geared towards
adding value. And all our organisation units will be managed with a clear
eye on their individual bottom lines.
At a later stage, and in collaboration
with our partners such as Meteo
Schweiz, Swisscontrol, Swissport and
the airport catering company, we
should like to offer our airport expertise to others around the world.
“All our organisation units will be managed with a clear eye on their individual bottom
lines.”
In the last 50 years Zurich Airport has
positioned itself as an intercontinental hub. Its future development will
depend more and more on whether
the airport can work together with its
home carrier to offer an extensive
and well-coordinated network of services and routes. In this sense, the
“In geographical terms, we’re at
the centre of the continent: we couldn’t
have a better position.”
With the airlines increasingly combining to form their own global networks, shouldn’t airports be forging
these kinds of alliance, too?
I’m sure we’ll see this trend in the airline industry – and the consolidation
it is bound to bring – repeated in the
airport sector, too.
The fortunes of Zurich Airport are
closely associated with Swissair. What
would happen if your home carrier decided one day that another airport,
like Brussels or Vienna, should become
the main hub for intercontinental
flights within its Qualiflyer Group?
SAirGroup is very dependent on
having the best possible infrastructure
at its main Zurich hub. On the other
hand, the development of the airport
depends on the home carrier, too.
Let’s be honest: it would be disastrous
for Zurich if Swissair were to relocate
to Brussels, Vienna or Milan.
Zurich currently ranks as the tenthlargest airport in Europe. Is that where
you want to stay?
No. The experts predict that Europe
will have a maximum of five or six intercontinental hubs. Zurich must be
one of them. We’ve got some great
The airlines would like to remove
the hindrances at airports to a smooth
passenger flow, and would like to introduce more automation, too. Ticketless travel, automatic check-in, hasslefree transfers from car or train to plane
are all very much in vogue. As an airport, how far can you accommodate
these wishes without neglecting or
compromising your security?
Security must never be put at risk and
will always have top priority for any
airport. But we must and will help to
find ways of removing many of the
present barriers that the airport process presents.
From your office on the eighth floor
you have a fantastic view over Zurich
Airport and its installations: the tower,
the apron and the runways. Is this important to you in your work?
Yes, every visitor here can see and feel
what we’re working for. And I like to
feel where I am and what I’m working
for, too.
With two ground handling companies
Zurich is only at the start of the liberalisation process. How many suppliers
will Zurich Airport be able to cope
with in this sector after full liberalisation?
What do you dream of when you close
your eyes and think about a future, privatised Zurich Airport?
In my opinion, three to four companies would be the ideal number
of ground handlers for an airport
the size of Zurich, which currently
handles about 20 million passengers a
year.
Who do you feel that infrastructure
such as the baggage sorting facility
should belong to: the airport or the
ground handler?
I think the basic infrastructure should
belong to the airport: this is the only
way to allow genuine competition.
things working in our favour here. In
geographical terms, we’re at the centre of the continent: we couldn’t have
a better position.We’re based in a stable country, in both economic and
political terms. It would be an enormous disadvantage for Switzerland,
and for the Swiss economy, if we
were not one of this half-dozen top
intercontinental hubs.
“It would be an enormous disadvantage for Switzerland if we were not one of Europe’s
top half-dozen intercontinental hubs.”
I see the year 2004. I see an airport
with its Phase Five Expansion
complete, with its midfield terminal
and the new Airside Center. I see
myself walking through the new
facilities, and taking in the unique
atmosphere that we are building
together with our airport partners – an
atmosphere that will help us all meet
all the varying needs of the 25 million
passengers who will be using our
airport each year.
Interview: Christian P. Somogyi
Photos: August Kehl
The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999 – Swissreporter 7
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 Airways
Swissair
TAP Air Portugal
Tatra Air
Thai Airways
Tunis Air
Turkish Airlines
Tyrolean Airways
VASP
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 per year 35 200 000
Aircraft handled per year
343 000
Hamburg
London
Amsterdam
Berlin
Düsseldorf
Frankfurt
Stuttgart
Basel
Munich
Zurich
Geneva
Lyon
Montpellier
Toulouse
8 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999
Marseille
Nice
Corlu
Istanbul
Ankara
Izmir
Bodrum
Antalya
Dalaman
NETWORK
San Juan
Tel Aviv
Cairo
Manaus
Fortaleza
Natal
Recife
Salvador
Brasilia
Nairobi
Rio de Janeiro
São Paulo
Johannesburg
Durban
Cape Town
Trabzon
Adana
L O C AT I O N
ENTITY
AS OF
Zurich
Swissport
Jan 97
Basel
Swissport
Jan 97
Geneva
Swissport
Jan 97
London
Swissport
Jan 97
Düsseldorf
aerogate1
Dec 97
Frankfurt
aerogate1
Jan 99
Berlin
aerogate1
Jan 98
Hamburg
aerogate1
Jan 98
Stuttgart
aerogate1
Nov 97
Munich
aerogate1
Nov 97
Adana
Havas1
Sep 97
Ankara
Havas1
Sep 97
Antalya
Havas1
Sep 97
Bodrum
Havas1
Sep 97
Corlu
Havas1
Sep 97
Dalaman
Havas1
Sep 97
Istanbul
Havas1
Sep 97
Izmir
Havas1
Sep 97
Trabzon
Havas1
Sep 97
Tel Aviv
Q.A.S.1
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
Natal
Swissport
Jan 99
Recife
Swissport
Aug 98
Salvador da Bahia Swissport
Jul 98
San Juan
Swissport
Nov 97
Cairo
EAS1
Jan 97
Amsterdam
Dutchport2
May 99
Lyon
ALA1
Jan 98
P L A N N E D F O R 19 9 9
Marseille
ALA1
Jan 98
Greece
Montpellier
ALA1
Jan 98
Nice
ALA1
Jan 98
Spain
Toulouse
ALA1
Jan 98
Peru
1
joint venture with Swissport
Argentina
2
joint venture with CSC
Italy
and some other key projects currently
under way (subject to approval).
The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999 – Swissreporter 9
O U R PA R T N E R S
IATA ■ Swissreporter visited IATA Airport Services in Geneva:
Swapping experience and
expertise: a great way to quality
Swissport has been active in the
IATA Ground Handling Council
(IGHC), the most important international forum for ground handling executives, ever since its
foundation.
“Ground handling really is the newest
baby in the IATA family,” confirms
Frank R. van Paasschen, Manager
Airport Services at IATA, as he recalls the launch of the IATA Ground
Handling Council (IGHC) ten years
ago. In forming the IGHC, IATA
wanted to demonstrate how the
ground handling function – previously
something of a wallflower within the
airline world – had become an extremely important aspect of the airline industry. “Without good ground
handling,” van Paasschen confirms,
“today’s industry would never get off
the ground. And with deregulation
and the worldwide trends toward independent ground handling companies,” he adds, “it’s vital not to lose
control over the ground handling
function. Common standards and the
IGHC Ground Handling Manual are
simply essential if we want to have a
high level of service from independent ground handling operators.”
“We welcome an open
market!”
Some 430 companies now collaborate
within the Council and the executives
of all the leading ground handling
companies in the world attend the
annual IGHC seminars, the
latest of which was held in
Atlanta at the start of
May and attracted over
500 participants. So
what’s van Paasschen’s
take on the global
deregulation in the
ground handling
sector and the swift rise of independent service providers? “We are
against monopolies, so we welcome
this opening up of the market,” he
replies. “Free competition increases
the determination of service providers to offer high-quality services.The
AHS-1000 project launched by the
IATA Airport Service Team serves the
same purpose. In offering this consultancy service, we want to show how
you can implement a system to
measure and monitor your level of
service and ensure that it’s what you
agreed with the airline concerned.”
No uncontrolled growth
But does worldwide deregulation also
mean uncontrolled growth – especially
given the fact that the standards agreed
in the IGHC can never be made binding? “You’re right,” van Paasschen
concedes, “we can’t force companies
to apply these standards, although the
tools that we offer – like the Airport
Handling Manual – do undoubtedly
have a positive effect on quality.” To
give just one example, the Manual
provides ground handling companies
with a standard load control sheet
which can be used virtually anywhere
in the world.The IGHC also urges the
airlines to conduct regular audits in
the ground handling area for their
aviation authorities. So is there a quality mark which provides information
on this collaboration? “Not yet,” van
Paasschen replies,“but our AHS-1000
project takes specific measurements every day to see
whether the handling company is achieving the levels
of service agreed with the
airline. And the company
does receive a certificate
which it can show customers as a proof of its service quality.”And what does
van Paasschen want
from ground
The IATA Airport Services team (from left to right): Frank R. van Paasschen, Cheryl
Lavender-Durrer and Colin Temple.
handling companies in general?
“Naturally, I want them all to be
closely involved with the activities of
the IGHC.And I’d like to see more of
the knowledge transfer and the work
on common standards that are so
important to any independent
company.”
Visions for the future
Like the airlines (see also our report
on Page 11 on Swissair’s Seamless
Customer Care), IATA Airport
Services is working on projects for the
future. One example of this is the
“Radio Frequency Identification”
scheme.To demonstrate this advanced
technology, Frank van Paasschen
showed us a baggage label which has
an ultra-flat transmitter instead of the
usual bar code. The transmitter
enables the route and location of a
bag to be traced at all times. Close
collaboration with aircraft manufacturers is important to van Paasschen,
too: it would be unthinkable today for
a new aircraft to be developed
without a precise analysis of ramp-to-
Frank R. van Paasschen
is proud of the IATA Airport Handling Manual –
a vital worktool for independent ground handling operators all over
the world.
10 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999
aircraft interface requirements. In its
advisory capacity, IATA Airport
Services is involved in brainstorming
and development sessions with manufacturers at a very early stage. Van
Paasschen is proud that, in view of
these advisory activities, his unit
is fully self-supporting. Finally, of
course, we wanted to know what
impressions Frank van Paasschen has
had of Swissport so far. “We have
excellent contacts,” he said spontaneously: “Swissport’s people are active
members of the IGHC, they attend
the annual meetings and they’re
fully involved in formulating new
standards.”
Christian P. Somogyi
I ATA A I R P O R T S E RV I C E S
The work undertaken by this division, which, as a result of its activities, is totally self-supporting,
includes baggage sorting, load
control, aircraft ramp handling,
ground support equipment and
ramp safety standards and procedures. These standards allow the
international airline and ground
handling community to reduce
their air transport costs.The IATA
Airport Services division is continually updating standards and procedures to reflect new technological developments, with a special emphasis on automation and
cost savings. For further information please contact Frank R.
van Paasschen, Airport Services
Manager, phone: +41 22 799 27 23;
fax: +41 22 799 26 62; e-mail:
vanpaasscf@iata.org
SWISSAIR
Olivier Willi: “80 per cent of the people we asked wanted to get from check-in to the aircraft without barriers or contact in the shortest possible time.”
SEAMLESS CUSTOMER CARE ■ Future scenarios involve ground handling, too
Has the future arrived already?
E-travel, Fast Track, no-obstacle
check-in and other buzz phrases:
they’re all in the minds and the
mouths of Swissair’s “Seamless
Customer Care” project team.
Swissreporter spoke to its leader,
Olivier Willi.
“‘Know the customer, add value for
the customer’ – that’s our mission statement,” explains Olivier Willi at the
start of our discussion. “It’s an objective we aim to achieve by a number of
means – like making substantially
more information about customers
available on our screens. The information we have at present tends to be
geared towards our operational concerns. We want the information to be
processed and presented in such a
way that it can be used wherever and
whenever our staff come into contact
with our customers during their journey.” But the projects on the ground
are just one part of the seamless customer care story. Inflight activities are
just as important. Like the completed
passenger list (or CLIP) for maîtres
de cabine, which has already been introduced. Specially designed with the
customer in mind and with much more
detailed information than in the
past, the new list enables cabin staff to
meet the wishes of passengers more
specifically, provide a better inflight
service, or ensure that the right actions are taken in good time for the
customer whenever these are required. For the first time, for example,
the maître de cabine can contact the
Passenger Care Center at any time
via satellite link. Needless to say, the erational aspects of the ground handling
Seamless Customer Care team are process will need to be improved before
keen to extend these expanded passen- the new “gadgets” can be introduced.
ger lists to ground functions, too. But, as The aim here is to enable the ground
Olivier Willi exhandling organisaplains, it is far, far
tion to respond
easier to implemore flexibly to fument a new inforture irregularities.
mation
system
Since various exaboard 25 longternal factors such
haul aircraft than
as the weather,
at
innumerable
overcrowded aircontact points on
ways and similar
the ground. “Still,”
can hardly be inhe adds,“we’re defluenced at all, the
termined to make
project team from
this additional inSwissair and Swissformation availport Zurich has
able at important
been concentratpoints in Zurich,
ing its attention
and we’ll be workon how passenger
ing closely with Project team leader Olivier Willi.
and baggage flows
Swissport to do
could be influso.”
enced so as to avoid
delays.To give one concrete example:
Issue number one:
if a passenger does not appear at the
punctuality!
gate, then there is usually nothing
All the actions taken in “Seamless else the ground handling team can do
Customer Care” are based on res- than search for their baggage and
ponses received in Swissair’s frequent take it off the flight – with all the time
surveys. “We spoke intensively with loss that entails.“But if we knew where
over 200 maîtres de cabine,” Willi ex- the passenger and their baggage were,
plains,“to find out what in their expe- we could search for them and maybe
rience the passenger wants most. In avoid the delay,”Willi explains.To this
our ground projects, which we refer to end, Swissair now wants to issue its
by the collective name of Fast Track, frequent travellers, such as First Class
we identified customer needs and passengers and Circle and Travelclub
concerns through a massive customer members, with a special tool that
survey. Not surprisingly, punctuality should give them swift and almost
was given the highest priority of all.” obstacle-free passage through the airFirst, though, Willi insists, a few op- port to the flight. Check-in, passport
control, the security check and any
other pre-departure processes would
all be minimised and possibly eliminated completely. The project team is
currently seeking the best vehicle for
such a scheme. Could it be a smart
card or something like that? Olivier
Willi doubts whether customers will
want yet another card for their wallets. “The customer ought to be able
to select the vehicle themselves,” he
feels, “whether it’s a smart card, their
mobile phone or something else. We
want our frequent travellers to be able
to get to the aircraft more quickly and
more simply – ideally, with no barriers
at all. What’s important is that the
process is designed to be as flexible as
possible. And that’s also why close
cooperation with our ground handlers
– Swissport Zurich – is vital to the
project’s success.”
Transparent customers?
Still, how is the passenger going to
feel about all this data on them being
available, and being virtually tracked
as they make their way through the
airport? “The customer must always
have the choice of whether they want
us to have this transparency,” Olivier
Willi explains. “That also applies to
the data we want to make available to
our frontline staff to better meet their
special and individual needs.” We
should see the results soon: current
plans call for the programme to be
established at most major Swissair
stations within three years.
Christian P. Somogyi
The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999 – Swissreporter 11
S W ISSASDPFO R T
News and views from all over
■ Swissport Zurich stays at the
cutting edge:
Tomorrow's
technology today
The Swissport Air Littoral Assistance management team.
■ Air Littoral Assistance:
Swissport sets foot in
France
The close collaboration between Air
Littoral and the SAirGroup which
has been in effect since last October
has enabled Swissport to enter the
highly competitive French ground
handling market. Air Littoral Assistance (which is 70% owned by
Swissport International and 30% by
Air Littoral) joined the Swissport network in February of this year. The
company, which was founded in
January 1997, provides passenger and
ramp services at Nice, Marseille,
Lyon, Toulouse and Montpellier
airports, mainly for Air Littoral but
also for British Airways, Air Liberté
and Lufthansa Cityline.The customer
base is set to grow further soon with
the addition of the members of the
Qualiflyer Group. Quality and customer dedication are not mere theory for Air Littoral Assistance employees. Ever since its foundation, the
company has had a quality manager
whose task is to monitor quality and
guarantee a high level of services.
And, like all other Swissport entities
abroad,Air Littoral Assistance will be
ISO 9002-certificated by the end of
the year. To offer an overview of
Swissport's youngest unit abroad,
here are some key figures (for 1998):
Eighty top managers met recently for
the Swissport TecDay. The TecDay is
Swissport’s way of providing its management personnel with an overview of the latest technology in the
ground handling field. Swissport
already uses advanced information
systems and technologies, of course;
but the company aims to still be at the
cutting edge in two to three years, and
to ensure that all the technology available is exploited to the full for the benefit of Swissport customers. This
year's TecDay event was divided into
five seminars, providing knowledge
and insights into the latest developments in the Internet, communications devices, interfaces and infra-
structure fields. One seminar presented the new ADAPT planning and
disposition system, which will enable
Swissport Zurich and later other
Swissport stations to ensure that their
resources are used as efficiently as
possible – which should ensure in turn
that Swissport customers receive services of the highest possible quality.
ADAPT is designed to ensure that
appropriately qualified staff are
always available at the right time. It
even makes sure that apron vehicles
are deployed as effectively as
possible, too. Closing the event, Willy
Hallauer, President and CEO of
Swissport Zurich, urged all his
managers to grasp the potential
offered by today’s technology and
incorporate it fully into their business
processes.
Urs von Euw
A I R L I T T O R A L A S S I S TA N C E / S W I S S P O R T K E Y F I G U R E S
Turnover
USD 14 million
Aircraft handled
35 000
Customer airlines served
around 20
Airports served
5
Employees
Air Littoral Assistance, which is jointly
managed by Marc Lemaître and JeanLuc Payot, aims in a first step to
become the leading ground handling
315
company in Southern France. In a
second step, the company could play
a major role in expanding the Swissport network to the airports in Paris.
Jean-Luc Payot
■ Dutchport: collaboration
between CSC and Swissport
New joint venture at
Amsterdam Airport
Swissport International has extended
its operations to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The new operation –
Dutchport vof – has been set up together with CSC NL, a local company
which has benefited from the general
liberalisation of the ground handling
market and obtained its licence to
handle passengers as well as freight
on March 1 of this year. CSC NL’s decision to team up with Swissport and
enter the passenger handling market
has been prompted by a general deterioration in ground handling at
Amsterdam Airport. This in turn has
been the result of airlines’ deliberate
policy over the last few years of cutting their costs wherever they can.
The trend has already bottomed out,
though, as some airlines have realised
that they need to restore some of the
quality to their ground services product. Which is where Dutchport vof
comes in. Since passenger handling is
not a core activity of CSC NL, the
company decided to establish a joint
venture with Swissport International
to meet this market need. The new
company was officially established on
12 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999
Eighty top Swissport managers learnt of the latest developments in the ground handling
IT field at the company’s TecDay.
May 3; and CSC NL and Swissport
are currently hard at work setting up
their new organisation, which should
initially number around 75 employees. Dutchport vof should be able to work from a sound and solid
base. CSC NL and Swissport are both
large and healthy organisations with a
strong commitment to the quality of
their products and services. CSC NL
can also contribute its thorough knowledge of the local handling market,
while Swissport brings its comprehensive experience of passenger
handling operations. As one example
of the strengths Dutchport vof is likely
to offer, airline communications systems are to be extensively used to
make the handling process as smooth
and efficient as possible. The new
company will also be able to draw on
a handling concept that has been
refined and standardised for use all
over the world.
Jürg Schumacher
■ Swatch lucky draw
Worldwide interest
from the airline
industry!
The first issue of Swissreporter included a fax reply form asking readers to tell us what they thought of
our new customer magazine and
whether they had any particular requests. Several hundred replies were
received from all corners of the
world. More than two thirds of our
respondents said they had read the
magazine in some detail, and over
three quarters had read more than
eight of the twelve pages. In topic
terms, the news of the Swissport network seemed to generate the most
interest, though the interview with
Sabena CEO Paul Reutlinger and the
articles on Swissport’s ISO 9002 certification and SAirServices proved
popular, too. The wish list for future
issues was headed by general ground
handling topics, followed by information on Swissport services and general
S W ISSASDPFO R T
the world
information from the air transport
world. Needless to say, we will bear
these suggestions in mind. As promised, twelve winners were drawn from
the over 300 replies received, and a
Swatch watch goes to:
● Elena Vracha Christoforides,
Eurocypria, Larnaca, Cyprus
● Petra Clemens, LTU Airways,
Cape Town, South Africa
● Sigal Mannheim, Arkia, Tel Aviv,
Israel
● Dr. José M.C. Teixeira, TAP Air
Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal
● Hector Reyes, Aerovias de
Mexico, Col. Cuauhtémoc,
Mexico
● Alfonso Rey, I.E.G.
Int’l Enterprises Group, Inc.,
Miami, USA
● Frank Meditz, Delta Air Lines,
London, UK
● Marcos Pintor Sanz, Iberia,
Madrid, Spain
● Cumhur Gökmen,
British Airways, Istanbul, Turkey
● Taro Higuchi, Japan Airlines,
Tokyo, Japan
● Dorothee Bongartz, Alitalia,
Düsseldorf, Germany
● Peter de Waal, Passaredo
Transportes Aereas, São Paulo,
Brazil
■ Swissport Geneva:
Lost-and-found is
vital
Swissport Geneva SA has installed an
ultra-comfortable and effective lostand-found centre in the arrivals hall
at Geneva Airport. The facility
features eight workstations in an area
of about 160 square metres, providing
quick and efficient service for travellers who find that they have arrived
but their baggage has not. Some 36
Swissport Basel’s new apron cars are all equipped with laptop, printer and mobile phone, allowing the company to provide an even
better and swifter service for its customers.
■ Swissport Basel:
“Super Richies” for load
control on the move
In view of the strong recent increase
in traffic at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, especially through
the development of Crossair’s
“EuroCross”hub,Swissport Basel had
been finding it increasingly difficult
to provide each flight with a loadsheet
employees are available to help
travellers in the Geneva Lost-andFound Centre for over 18 hours a day
(from 05:00 to 24:00). “We wanted a
new set-up that would reflect the
international importance of our
airport,” explains Adrian Schwab,
Manager Arrivals & Baggage. As
from its office on time. Our local Load
Control unit decided a more mobile
approach was called for, and acquired
three new apron cars in autumn 1998.
Each car is fully equipped with a
laptop, printer and mobile phone.The
phones link up to the DCS system,
the telex printer is switched on, and
away they go. The advantages are
obvious. All system entries can now
be made directly on the tarmac. The
time-consuming trip to the office is
eliminated; and help is also quickly at
hand wherever extra personnel are
required. The “Super Richies”, as the
vehicles have been affectionately
nicknamed, have greatly facilitated
our Basel operations… and greatly
enhanced the unit’s service to its customers, too.
Schwab goes on to explain, it is often
passengers with Geneva as their final
destination who have made connecting flights that are the victims of
delayed or missing baggage, rather
than travellers on pure point-to-point
flights. It is the current general trends
in air transport (ever shorter connections, delays due to weather, airways
congestion and so on) that are often
at fault here, causing bags to miss
their connections. Swissport had a
total of 43 502 cases of baggage not
available on arrival last year, involving 66 533 bags. The personnel at
Swissport’s Lost-and-Found-Centre
in Geneva are particularly proud of
their own record in dealing with these
irregularities. In 82 per cent of cases
the missing bags were delivered within 24 hours (and 92 per cent were
returned to their owners within 48
hours). The team also forwarded
6 852 items last year that had not even
been destined for Geneva. Swissport
performs this work using its own userfriendly Lofo 2 computer system,
which is also connected to the SITA
Worldtracer located in Atlanta.
■ www.swissport.com
Paul Marty
Swissport Geneva’s spacious new Lost-and-Found Centre in the airport’s arrivals hall features eight desks for fast and effective customer service.
Martin Brügger
Everything you always
wanted to know
about Swissport…
Since the beginning of May, anyone
wishing to find out the latest on Swissport and its ground handling activities
has been able to do so at the company’s newly-designed website.Around
the clock and all over the globe, the
www.swissport.com website offers
important and interesting data on
ground handling including:
● the worldwide Swissport network
● latest openings of new stations
● Swissport services and USPs
● press releases
● the Year 2000 issue
● everything on ISO 9002 quality
certification
● facts and figures
● partnership proposals
● job opportunities
● how to order documentation and
offers
● and much more!
Please make the most of this new service, and click into the fascinating
WorldWideWeb whenever you need
information about Swissport.
Stephan Beerli
The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999 – Swissreporter 13
C U S T OSMAEDRF V O I C E
CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS ■ Service straight from the heart
IMPRESSUM
Published by:
Swissport International Ltd. –
an SAirServices company
“We’re all on
the same side!”
Publishers:
Stephan Beerli, Vice President
Marketing & Sales, Swissport
International Ltd.
E-mail: sbeerli@sairgroup.com
Hans Klaus
Corporate Communications
SAirGroup
E-mail: hklaus@sairgroup.com
Editor-in-chief:
Cathay Pacific has been serving
Zurich on-line for the last 11 years.
Hanspeter Schurter is responsible
for arranging and monitoring airport services at Zurich for the
renowned Hong Kong-based carrier. Swissreporter asked him for
his views and experiences of his
ground handling agent, Swissport
Zurich AG.
Swissreporter: Mr. Schurter, what
would you say are your main tasks
here at Zurich Airport?
Hanspeter Schurter: I’m responsible
together with Swissport Zurich for
handling Cathay Pacific’s flights.
Are you comfortable with the fact that
your ground handling is entrusted to a
totally “foreign” company?
flyer programme, we’ve been given
the first row of check-in desks. The
Cathay Pacific ticket and inquiries
desk is just opposite, which is very
handy for both us and our customers.
Any criticisms, though?
Well, we do have the same kind of
space problems here in Zurich that
we had at the old Kai Tak Airport in
Hong Kong: everything is bursting at
the seams. But if I make constructive
criticisms or suggestions on how we
could solve the problem, it’s by no
means just Swissport I have to talk to.
What would you say are the strengths
of Swissport Zurich?
I think their corporate image is
strong, and they have a good management, too. But I do think the Swiss-
I think so, yes.They regularly conduct
surveys on their own service. But
rather than just put the crosses in the
boxes, I try to always describe situations and problems as precisely as
possible. So I would say that Swissport Zurich is pretty well aware of
what I like and what I don’t.
And they respond accordingly?
“We both want
the passenger to
feel as happy
and comfortable
as can be.”
What is Swissport like in responding
to special requests?
They’re very good with “irregularity
handling” – dealing with delays and
so forth. But they admit that we’re
very good at providing them with the
information they need, too.
How important would you say ground
handling is in terms of your overall
product?
Completely. Swissport is an excellent
company with whom we work very
closely.
port philosophy needs to be communicated through to its frontline staff
better, too.
I’d say the handling agent and the
quality it offers are very important for
us. Swissport’s check-in at Zurich
tends to get good marks in our own
customer surveys. If I were to grade
Swissport’s performance, I’d give
them a qualified “good”. But I think
with a bit more fine tuning I could
give them a solid “very good” instead.
Could you be a bit more precise?
How satisfied are you with Swissport
Zurich’s performance?
We had a few teething troubles, a few
quality problems and a lot of staff
changes at the start, but that was to be
expected. Things are a lot better now.
And since we started codeshare
flights with home carrier Swissair and
joined Swissair’s Qualiflyer frequent
What do you mean by that?
I sometimes sense a certain unease
among their frontline personnel,
though some of this may of course be
due to the infrastructure problems
I’ve already mentioned.
Is Swissport Zurich receptive to constructive criticism?
14 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999
Contributors to this issue:
Stephan Beerli
Martin Brügger
Urs von Euw
Joseph In Albon
Hans Klaus
Paul Marty
Thomas Neff
Jean-Luc Payot
Jürg Schumacher
Christian P. Somogyi
Translations:
SAirGroup Translations
Layout and art direction:
Caroline Lipp, DAZ
Printing:
DAZ, Druckerei Albisrieden AG
Zurich
Editorial and production office:
Yes, they take critical suggestions seriously and they do try to sort out the
problems as quickly as they can.
Hanspeter Schurter, Airport Services Manager for Cathay Pacific at Zurich Airport.
Christian P. Somogyi
E-mail: cps@datacomm.ch
Whenever I meet with Swissport, with
their managers or in training sessions
with their staff, I try to give them something of our Cathay Pacific philosophy. We’re all on the same side: we
both want the passenger to feel as
happy and comfortable as can be.
Interview: Christian P. Somogyi
CPS Communications, Zurich
Phone: +41 1 252 20 27
Fax: +41 1 260 65 24
Publication:
Three times a year.
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 1 811 10 01.
Printed in Switzerland
© 1999 Swissport International
Ltd., Zurich Airport, Switzerland
Swissreporter Information Desk:
Phone: +41 1 812 49 54
Fax: +41 1 811 10 01
Internet: www.swissport.com
BEFORE YOU GO…
C O N TA C T S
FROM THE TOP
Swissport in Switzerland
Head office
Swissport International Ltd., Joseph In Albon, President & CEO, P.O. Box, 8058 Zurich Airport, jinalbon@sairgroup.com, tel.: +41 1 812 27 79, fax: +41 1 811 10 01, SITA: ZRHDISR
Swissport International Ltd., Stephan Beerli, Vice President, Marketing & Sales, P.O. Box,
8058 Zurich Airport, sbeerli@sairgroup.com, tel.: +41 1 812 49 50, fax: +41 1 811 10 01, SITA:
ZRHOXSR
Swissport International Ltd., Thomas Neff, Vice President, Business Development, P.O. Box,
8058 Zurich Airport, thneff@sairgroup.com, tel.: +41 1 812 27 24, fax: +41 1 811 10 01, SITA:
ZRHDISR
Swissport International Ltd., Andy Bühlmann, Vice President Finance, P.O. Box, 8058 Zurich
Airport, abuehlma@sairgroup.com, tel.: +41 1 812 42 55, fax: +41 1 811 10 01, SITA: ZRHOXSR
Switzerland
Swissport Zürich AG, Willy Hallauer, President & CEO, P.O. Box, 8058 Zurich Airport,
whallaue@sairgroup.com, tel.: +41 1 812 61 70, fax: +41 1 812 91 95, SITA: ZRHKSSR
Swissport Genève SA, Ernst Hochuli, President & CEO, P.O. Box, 1215 Geneva Airport,
ehochuli@sairgroup.com, tel.: +41 22 799 30 10, fax: +41 22 799 31 67, SITA: GVAOKSR
Swissport Basel AG, Georges Peter, President & CEO, P.O. Box, 4030 Basel Airport,
gpeter@sairgroup.com, tel.: +41 61 325 23 00, fax: +41 61 325 23 07, SITA: BSLKSSR
Swissport around the world
Brazil
Swissport Brazil Ltda., Dieter Altenburger, President & CEO, Av. Vinte de Janeiro s/n,
Via de Serviço – Rua T/103, Ilha do Governador, 21941-570 Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil,
altenburger@swissport.com.br, tel.: +55 21 398 59 31, fax: +55 21 398 59 32, SITA: GIGKXSR
Egypt
EAS Egyptian Aviation Services, Klaus Schmidt, General Manager, Cairo International Airport
Terminal 2, Arrival Hall,Cairo, Egypt, tel.: +20 2 291 89 27, fax: +20 2 291 89 26
France
Air Littoral Assistance, Marc Lemaître / Jean-Luc Payot, CEOs, Aéroport Nice Côte d’Azur,
Terminal T1-Bât. 4, 06281 Nice Cedex 3, France, mlemaitre@air-littoral.fr,
jpayot@sairgroup.com, tel.: +33 4 93 21 82 50, fax: +33 4 93 21 82 51, SITA: NCEDSFU
Germany
aerogate, Werner Teubner, President & CEO, P.O. Box 231533, 85324 Munich Airport,
Germany, wteubner@aerogate.de, tel.: +49 89 9759 23 01, fax: +49 89 9759 20 06, SITA:
MUCXG8X
aerogate, Hermann Delliehausen, President & CEO, P.O. Box 14, Terminal 2, 60549 Frankfurt,
Germany, hdellieh@sairgroup.com, tel.: +41 1 812 72 00, fax: +41 1 812 91 95, SITA: ZRHKSSR
Israel
Q.A.S. – Quality Airport Services, Yossi Raviv, President & CEO, P.O. Box 136, Ben Gurion
International Airport 70100, Israel, yraviv@netvision.net.il, tel.: +972 3 973 11 91,
fax: +972 3 973 03 65, SITA: TLVKKCR
Kenya
AirSide Ltd. / Swissport Kenya, Olav Everts, CEO, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
Unit 2, P.O. Box 44549, Nairobi, airside@africaonline.co.ke, tel.: +254 2 82 20 20,
fax: +254 2 82 23 29, SITA: NBOKSSR
Puerto Rico
We are ready and fit for you
Maximum flexibility is an absolute must for a service company operating
throughout the world in a highly competitive environment. In each of our 40
operating units in twelve countries and on four continents – in short, at every
airport at which Swissport is active today – our colleagues are living examples of this flexibility. It’s a flexibility that translates into rapid responses to
the wishes of travellers, anticipating the needs of airline customers, reacting
speedily to official regulations, and being as creative as possible in solving
the problems irregularities can entail. Our aim here is simple: we want to be
the best! Which is why Swissport organisations throughout the world are
being trained in irregularity handling. Our certification to ISO 9002 standards, which was completed mid-year for all our operations, is one of the
tools that make an organisation fit and flexible to solve all the problems that
may occur in a working environment in which irregularities are a fact of life.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of small to medium-sized businesses are still
operating in the ground handling industry. In an economic sector that is
becoming ever more difficult, these companies are often unable to respond
to the airline industry’s growing demands for genuine multi-point agreements. We are currently working on a concept in this area which will enable
our partners to become an integral part of a large network and yet still
guarantee superior Swissport quality to our airline customers worldwide . In
the short history of our company we have already forged virtually every
type of business partnership imaginable: we are majority shareholders in
joint-venture companies; have minority shareholdings in companies that we
manage; maintain 50:50 partnerships; operate joint marketing agreements;
have concluded finance agreements for modernising equipment; offer quality assurance systems, quality audits and training; and, as our latest venture,
have now embarked on franchising, too. Yet for all the variety that these
partnerships represent, they are all based on a single principle: wherever
Swissport is present – as a senior, a junior or even a silent partner – quality,
customer focus and our innate flexibility always have pride of place.
And that’s the way we intend to continue.
Joseph In Albon, President & CEO
Swissport International Ltd.
Swissport Puerto Rico Inc., Jacques Delessert, President & CEO, 150 Carr. Sector Central,
Suite 14, L.M.M. International Airport, Carolina, P.R. 00979, swisport@prtc.net, tel.: +1 787 791
48 28, fax: +1 787 791 30 95, SITA: SJUKKSR
South Africa
Turkey
Swissport South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Armin Unternährer, CEO, P.O. Box 111, Johannesburg
Havas, Jean-Didier Savioz, President & CEO, Prof. Nurettin Öktem Sk.No.2, 80260 Sisli –
International Airport 1627, South Africa, aunterna@sairgroup.com
Istanbul, Turkey, havasgm@superonline.com, tel.: +90 212 233 24 84,
tel.: +27 11 928 85 27, fax: +27 11 928 85 47, SITA: JNBOWXH
fax: +90 212 233 38 53, SITA: ISTGMXH
The Netherlands
United Kingdom
Dutchport vof, Jürg Schumacher, President & CEO, WTC-Schiphol Boulevard 181,
Swissport U.K. Ltd., Carl Grey, President & CEO, Room 2411, Terminal 2, Heathrow Airport
1118 BG Luchthaven Schiphol, The Netherlands, jschumac@sairgroup.com,
Hounslow, Middlesex, TW61HG, United Kingdom, cgrey@sairgroup.com, tel.: +44 181 754 91 22,
tel.: +31 20 405 94 01, fax: +31 20 405 94 30
fax: +44 181 759 78 26, SITA: LHRKSSR
The Swissport customer journal ■ June 1999 – Swissreporter 15
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WE’VE GOT THE TOOLS
FOR YOUR GLOBAL NEEDS.
Swissport, the specialist airport ground services company,
has carved quite a niche for itself in the airport and airline
world. Our unique combination of an international approach
and a Swiss attention to detail have already earned us the trust
and custom of over 300 airlines at 40 airports all over
the globe. With our quality service product, our value-formoney and our firm focus on individual customer needs, we
hope you’re among them.
If you aren’t, give us a call.
Swissport International Ltd.
CH-8058 Zurich Airport
Marketing & Sales
Tel. +41 1 812 49 50
Fax +41 1 811 10 01
E-mail: sbeerli@sairgroup.com
Sita: ZRHOXSR
www.swissport.com
From landing to take-off: we care!