56 THE 14TH
ANNUAL GHI CONFERENCE
GROUND HANDLING INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2013
expressed…). Was IATA setting realistic targets for the sector? Did IATA actually understand the cargo handler’s business? It was felt IATA did to a degree but not necessarily from a practical point of view. The interface between handler, forwarder and airline was a critical element here; communication was all and it was suggested that IATA would do well to take a step back and observe in which direction cargo as a business was heading.
Still, though, the anomalies persist. As one panellist remarked, if a flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai can be completed in 13 hours, why does it take four days to ship cargo? Paperwork continues to be the bugbear and the lack of harmony between IT systems was not helping the situation. On the topic of IT, it was admitted that the tools were there but that the procedures were still complex. Consolidation of the loads, together with processing, was still holding up the procedure: the problem was not that of the handler. All the while, though, the handler was being
squeezed by both the forwarder and the carrier. Making the process both simple and straightforward was thus considered to be a priority if the sector was to grow in the future. There was also reference to last minute cargo acceptance: this can occur within 45 minutes of a flight departure, which can obviously have a knock-on effect. An interesting question raised was that of why some airports consider cargo to be the poor relation. One answer lay in the assertion that with passenger traffic, it’s possible for an airport to cost out visitor expenditure per head from the retail areas. Revenues are simply more transparent and obvious when talk turns to passenger traffic. With cargo, it’s a different story: an airport does not necessarily know or cannot predict with any certainty trends in this area. Thus when a passenger aircraft arrives, a good idea of revenue can be calculated: the reverse is the case with a freighter. Another subject aired was that of belly cargo vis-à-vis freighter cargo: was this latter in decline? It was felt that
despite the market percentage drop, nonetheless the belly sector was holding up and indeed, there were some signs of growth. Further, how important was cargo per se at community airports? In the absence of data (a word that cropped up on several occasions over the two days of conference), it was difficult to say. Certainly some sort of “cost per kilo” would assist those in the sector but this simply wasn’t available and it was felt that the airlines ought to address this deficiency as a priority. And was there more consolidation of cargo carriers on the horizon? Quite possibly: this has been the way of it with the handler and some present felt that it was on the cards and that it would not necessarily be a bad thing. Finally, there was some discussion over whether a handler could realistically negotiate both passenger and cargo contracts concurrently. It was felt that this was possible, albeit with the requisite synergies in place. Details of this year’s conference, which will take place in Madrid, can be found on page 63.
If you require a copy of the presentations, a CD-Rom is available. Please e-mail Emma Smith (
emma@groundhandling.com)
Beliz Ataman, Mutlu Baskan & Guclu Batkin, HAVAS GROUND HANDLING; Ruben Alejo, IBERIA AIRLINES; David Norfolk & Steve Sledger, BRITISH AIRWAYS; Janis Balkens, HAVAS EUROPE
Angel Arrue, SWISSPORT INTERNATIONAL; Angel Marcos, IBERIA AIRPORT SERVICES; Roger Larreur, SWISSPORT USA; Ruben Alejo, IBERIA AIRLINES; Antonio Alvarez, SWISSPORT USA
Stefania Catania & Krysnaia Nanini, SEA HANDLING; Carla Fasoli & Gianluigi Lo Giudice, ALITALIA; Maria Rosaria Pisano, SEA HANDLING; Gary Walker, AZZURRA GROUND HANDLING SERVICES; Federico Proietti, ALITALIA; Rossella Mastroianni & Floriano Frangipani, GH ITALIA
Dirk Goovaerts, MENZIES; Jean Michel Ivan & Michael Van Moorst, AIR FRANCE-KLM; Ton Jochems, KLM CITYHOPPER; Rob Van Hijfte, AIR FRANCE-KLM; Mervyn Walker, MENZIES; Siona Jorgensen & Vincent Gros, AIR FRANCE-KLM; Craig Smyth, MENZIES; Rudi Kandhai, KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES
Francisco Navarro, PORTWAY; Gary Cooley, AER LINGUS; Jose Manuel Santos, PORTWAY; Ken Millar, AER LINGUS; Joaquim Pedroso, PORTWAY
Brad Wilson & Demetrio Acevedo, DELTA AIR LINES; Tom Farmakis, DAL GLOBAL SERVICES; Brad Compton & Erin Compton (spouse), TUG TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, Andrea Risnoveanu, GLOBAL LOAD CONTROL CAPE TOWN; Tanya DePastino (spouse) & Richard DePastino, DAL GLOBAL SERVICES; Garry Earner, QUANTUM AVIATION SOLUTIONS
John Vella, AIR MALTA; Franck Romand & Hugo Ehrhard, GROUPE EUROPE HANDLING; George Sammut, Jason Muscat & Lee Gainsbury, AIR MALTA
Veronique Guevel, FREEBIRD AIRLINES; Olga Palec-Furga, WELCOME AIRPORT SERVICES; Anna Lysik, GDN AIRPORT SERVICES & WELCOME AIRPORT SERVICES; Erhan Taskin, FREEBIRD AIRLINES
Britta Hohlwegler, AHS AVIATION HANDLING SERVICES; Sergiu Malai, AIR MOLDOVA; Uta Kretschmar, AHS AVIATION HANDLING SERVICES
Omar Hanno, ASE GROUP; Marie-Pascale Zahar Gomis, AMADEUS IT GROUP; Mohamed Hanno, ASE GROUP; Alexandra Huzuneanu, ROMANIAN AIRPORT SERVICES
Michael Haeffner & Michael Richter, AEROGROUND FLUGHAFEN MUNCHEN; Shraga Richter, EL AL AIRLINES; Axel Feil; Siegfried Pasler & Tobias Sander, AEROGROUND FLUGHAFEN MUNCHEN
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