Zurich, 2013-02-22 — /travelprnews.com/ — Swissport International Ltd. (Swissport), the world’s leading provider of ground and cargo services to the aviation industry, is reporting total revenue of CHF 1.9 billion for the year 2012. This represents a 10% increase in revenue compared to 2011 which is reinforcing the market leading position of the company. The results are including the impact of the acquisition of the former Flightcare operations in Spain and Belgium (excluding the Flightcare business the 2012 revenue increase results in 6%).
The aviation segment in general was still facing challenging market conditions during the past year. Despite this demanding environment Swissport was again able to increase its revenue in 2012 by 10%. Compared to the previous year the aircraft turnaround frequencies increased 7%; air freight tonnage decreased 6%, reflecting general declines in the air freight market last year.
Swissport´s growth was mainly organic and resulting from larger contract wins at important European airports such as Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, Copenhagen Airport and London-Gatwick. Another catalyst for further organic growth in 2012 was the successful expansion in Africa with new handling licences for the International Airports of Morocco and Oran International Airport in Algeria as well as with the African low-cost carrier Fastjet.
Successful acquisitions were another big contributor to Swissport´s financial results. The acquisition of Flightcare Spain and Belgium was complementing existing passenger and cargo handling operations activities in these two countries. With taking over the Finnish ground handling company Inter Handling and its sister company Inter Handling Turku, Swissport could expand its footprint in this important and promising market.
Per H. Utnegaard, Group President & CEO of Swissport International Ltd.: “The overall group’s results for 2012 demonstrate that our resilient business model is working well in very challenging market conditions. I am very proud that we were able to grow double digit despite an overall decline in the market and I am confident that we can further increase our market shares in the future.”
Swissport International Ltd. provides ground services for around 118 million passengers and 3.5 million tonnes of cargo a year on behalf of some 650 client-companies in the aviation sector. With a workforce of around 40,000 personnel, Swissport is active at 192 stations in 38 countries on five continents, and generates annual consolidated operating revenue of CHF 1.9 billion. www.swissport.com
Corporate Communications
Sabine Meinitz
Mailing Address:
Swissport International Ltd.
Corporate Communications
P.O. Box
CH-8058 Zurich-Airport
sabine.meinitz@swissport.com