16 WORLD ANALYSIS
GROUND HANDLING INTERNATIONAL APRIL 2013 The US and Canada Just before we went to press there were rumours of massive cut-backs in expenditure within the US aviation
sector, cut-backs that would have a detrimental effect on the air passenger’s travel experience. But all that is (possibly) to come: what has happened in the months prior?
uring the past 12 months, Air General says that it has experienced dramatic growth.
“We assumed a new United Airlines operation in Fort Lauderdale, which includes handling for Air Canada. We started two more United Airlines operations in Kansas City and Minneapolis, including the facility leases to provide handling for several other carriers in both cities,” relates Paula Dexter. “In January 2013, Air General opened a new station in Manchester, New Hampshire, with our first Southwest Airlines contract in our newly refurbished cargo facility. We were also successful in expanding our customer base in existing locations, namely Air Canada in Houston; American Airlines in Nashville, St Louis and Detroit; Alaska Airlines in St Louis; United Airlines mail handling in Detroit and US Airways mail handling in Orlando and Tampa. “Moreover, Air General welcomed two new international airline customers, those of Iberia in Chicago and Swiss in Tampa.” She goes on to say that the handler has been busy with extending existing contracts. To that end, contracts were successfully renegotiated with British Airways in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Orlando and Tampa, as well as with Delta Air Lines in New Orleans and in Louisville. Air General also made a significant investment in refurbishing many of its facilities with the new and distinct company logo signage, which has been accompanied by a warm and pleasant interior colour scheme and new furnishings. Back on the ramp, the operation’s cargo handling fleet has been expanded, with new material handling equipment at several locations. There has been other news, too, in relation to freight. “Our new cargo security division, AG
Security, has grown this year,” says Paula. “We are pleased to announce that AG Security will now be the designated cargo security screening company for all our British Airways operations in the US. This programme has recently been rolled out in Orlando and Tampa, with the remaining British Airways stations soon to follow. “Along with this, our workforce
has grown to almost 600 employees, including our new Vice President Business Development, Donna Blanchard. Donna came to Air General from British Airways, and having most recently served as Director of Service Delivery for North America and
Air General: dramatic growth
Asia Pacific, she is well-positioned to lead the expansion of our business portfolio to passenger handling, which is an exciting new venture for our company.”
Focus on quality
Phil Harnden says of Menzies that during 2012, the company continued to focus on providing a quality service to its existing customers. “We have had significant success in securing important renewals with key customers, including Alaska Airlines, with whom we signed a new five year contract covering all existing locations in the US: these are Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mineta San Jose, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, as well all the stations they operate to in Mexico. “During that period we continued to invest in both the GSE and IT infrastructure that underpins our operations. Where appropriate airport infrastructure exists to accommodate it, such as charging stations and the like, we have begun to introduce environmentally-friendly GSE. “Our overall employee numbers
remained fairly stable through 2012, although turnover in certain locations remains high and is likely to remain so. That is something we plan for and have developed our systems and management to accommodate this. During 2012, we introduced a powerful new online recruitment/payroll and performance management tool that has enabled us to deliver significant efficiencies in our employee management processes. “I feel that the US market remains highly competitive but the continuing trend of airlines outsourcing underwing and other non-core handling functions has continued, resulting in a general expansion of the market available to handling companies. We have also seen domestic airlines begin to increasingly explore the opportunities to outsource
Menzies continued its focus on quality
passenger service activity: this is something that until now has been very much the exception in the US. There are some major challenges to come, though, on the labour side, with Healthcare Reform in particular set to have a very significant impact on costs during 2014.”
In the jetstream
Overall, 2012 was a good year too for JetStream. “We experienced well over 20%
growth with the award of several ground handling contracts and some add-on cargo business,” explains Blake Schultz, VP Sales & Marketing. “We have expanded our footprint in the Midwest as well as the Northeast, with the addition of ground handling contracts in St Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Buffalo, Rochester and Boston cabin service, among others.
“Just like 2011, the unemployment rates
remained high, so finding and keeping good labour has not been an issue. With the continuation of airline consolidation there have been quite a few experienced airline and aviation professionals looking for new assignments. “JetStream itself started an internal
reorganisation with the retirement of our COO, Rich Cordell. We have launched a new structure for our senior leadership. Once complete, we believe it will allow us to serve our customers in a much more efficient manner and better support our field organisation. “Looking forward, we are excited about the opportunities with the US Airways/ AMR merger as well as the consolidation of the Southwest and AirTran deal. In short, we expect 2013 to be a banner year for managed growth at JetStream.” There has also been a change at the helm at Quantem Aviation Services, as Ron Gerber, VP Sales & Service, explains. “In April 2012 Quantem underwent
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