Filling available capacity The primary job of any general sales and services agent is to fill the capacity of its carrier clients. That


has not been easy in recent months and years – if it ever was a simple task. But many GSSAs are never- theless proving highly successful even in these difficult times of belt-tightening constraints


F


lavio Renfer, who acts as a consultant for the Zurich-headquartered general sales and ser- vices agent (GSSA)


Airpass – while his father runs the company – says that it has seen mixed fortunes of late. The company, which is now


fully owned by Air Logistics Group, lost its first cargo cus- tomer, United Airlines, when the airline merged with fellow US carrier Continental. Jade Cargo and Grandstar


Cargo also dropped from its customer portfolio when they ran into their own financial dif- ficulties and were – at least temporarily – forced to cease operations. However, there has also been good news. Sri-


Renfer: “a GSSA wins or loses according to the quality of its employees”


Lankan Airlines is back online at Zurich, offering widebody capacity to several Far East- ern destinations. Oman Air is a new client, which flies A330s four time a week to Muscat from the Swiss city. SkyLease is now represented by Airpass,


According to Ingo Zimmer, CEO of Frankfurt-based ATC Aviation Services, competi- tion in the GSSA field is massive right now – there are more and more sales agents while the number of potential airline customers and cargo GSSA tenders is limited, he noted. However, ATC itself is hav-


ing a fine 2012 –“It has been a year of new contracts,” Zim- mer said. New deals have seen it, for example, represent Etihad in Scandinavia, Kuwait Airways in the Netherlands, Libyan freighter operator Allibo flying out of Netherlands and Malaysia Airlines in the French provinces. Plus, good loads are being seen on most of ATC’s client carriers, he continued, and Zimmer


still has plans to expand the GSSA’s footprint in other markets – new offices are planned for the US and South America, for example.


ECS looks to open further new routes in Central Africa


Bertrand Schmoll, CEO of Paris-headquartered ECS Group, notes: “We won 36 contracts in 2011 and we have already gained 12 in the first quarter of this year.” Also this year, the GSA launched a new


freight-carrying airline – Niger Air Cargo (NAC) – in conjunction with a private investor in Niger (ACW, 9 April, p6). So far, Schmoll said, the airline is “doing very well” and there are


plans to open new routes into Central Africa towards the end of this month (May). Closer to home, ECS intends to announce


plans for Europe sometime in June, Schmoll revealed. He added: “The French market is somewhat affected by the European economic difficulties but in different ways depending on routes. Asia, Africa and the Middle East are okay, but there is pressure on rates.”


operating to Mexico and South America, while since 1 April Air Logistics Switzerland has repre- sented Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA). With regard to operating in


Zurich, Renfer noted: “Switzer- land is a small market compared to other European countries. Compared to most of the Continent’s gateways, we still have rather high rates which are on certain routes up to 70 percent higher than, for example, in Germany. “On the other hand, we see


a fair amount of freight crossing the border to benefit from cheaper rates. I am sure that a


fair amount of cargo that currently flies out of Germany is originating in Switzerland or is ten- dered in places like Stuttgart and trucked back to Switzerland at the expense of the airline. “The carrier then loses out twice,” he


explained. “First with a much lower rate and secondly they have to pay the extra handling fees and the trucking.”


Competition is fierce as ATC inks new contracts As for Airpass: “We still see strong demand


to North America and, to a lesser extent, South America. China has gone down year-on-year by almost 50 percent, however, and other Far East- ern destinations have also seen double-digit declines in demand.” Renfer continued: “A GSSA wins or loses


according to the quality of its employees. The air freight industry is still a people business and at the end of the day, the workforce will make the difference.” And, he said, in this regard Air- pass is second to none. Nevertheless, he considers that the outlook for the remainder of this year remains “tricky”,


not least because of the strength of the Swiss franc. “Certainly we would like to add one or two major customers, but they must fit our portfolio. We do not collect airlines, we only sign a contract if there is a good business reason for it. I would much rather try to increase rev- enue with our current customer base.” The sales agent business is also changing all


the time, he considers. “In recent years we have seen GSSAs come and go. The (air cargo indus- try) cake itself has become no bigger and competition is fierce. Only companies that try to sell more than just air freight services will survive in the end.”


➤


7 May 2012


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