Swissport International sign multi-year ground handling contract with low-cost airline Germanwings

Opfikon, Switzerland, 2014-1-27 — /travelprnews.com/ — Swissport International (Swissport), the world’s largest provider of ground handling services for the aviation industry, and Germanwings, one of the most successful low-cost airlines in Europe, have signed a multi-year ground handling contract. In the context of this contract, Swissport commenced ground handling services for Germanwings at four locations, Birmingham, Geneva, Helsinki and Madrid, at the end of October 2013. During the contracted multi-year collaboration, the network will be further expanded over the next two years.

The new company Germanwings, which was launched on 1st January 2013 and is subsequently taking over all of Lufthansa’s direct European flights that do not use the Frankfurt or Munich hubs, combines economic, ‘smart’ flying with top quality and attractive prices. Germanwings is part of the Lufthansa Passenger Airline Group, and will be operating a flight network of more than 100 destinations within Europe by the end of 2014.

Within the framework of the signed contract, Swissport assumed ground handling services – from check-in and baggage handling to load control and ramp handling – for Germanwings at the locations Birmingham, Geneva, Helsinki and Madrid, at the end of October 2013. As of January 2014, the collaboration will be expanded gradually to cover additional locations in the Germanwings network.

Philipp Joeinig, Executive Vice President Central Europe at Swissport International: “We are proud to be able to assist Germanwings with professional ground handling services at these locations. A key feature of the collaboration with Germanwings will be a high degree of customer focus and innovation that we intend to bring to the operation. We see a great potential for continuing to expand this partnership in the future as well.”

By 2015, Germanwings plans to expand its fleet from 32 to 90 aircraft, increase the number of employees to almost 2,500, and to grow to 20 million passengers instead of the current 7.7 million.

Robert Jahn, Senior Vice President Airports & Ground Services at Germanwings: “The growth plans of Germanwings for the near future are very ambitious, and we are happy to be entering into this strategic collaboration with Swissport. As the largest provider and with its high quality and safety standards, Swissport is the right partner to support our plans in the area of ground handling.”

Swissport International Ltd. is the world´s largest provider of ground and cargo handling services in the aviation industry. The company provides ground services on behalf of some 700 client-companies and handles around 224 million passengers and 3.9 million flights per year. The company operates 120 warehouses and moves approx. 4.0 million tonnes of cargo. With a workforce of around 55,000 personnel, Swissport is active at more than 255 stations in 46 countries across five continents, and generates annual consolidated operating revenue of CHF 3 billion. www.swissport.com

Germanwings is one of the most successful low-cost airlines in Europe. From their stations in Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart, Berlin, Hanover, Dortmund and Hamburg Germanwings flies to over 100 destinations on the European continent, Israel and North Africa. Germanwings offers the highest quality at an affordable price. www.germanwings.com

For more information please contact:

Swissport International Ltd.
Corporate Communications
Sabine Meinitz
P.O. Box
CH-8058 Zürich-Flughafen
corporate.communications@swissport.com
+41 43 815 00 15

Farner Consulting AG
Kurt Rossi
Oberdorfstrasse 21
CH-8001 Zürich
swissport@farner.ch
+41 44 266 67 22

Germanwings
Head of Airport Relations and Capacity Procurement
Falk Durm
Germanwings-Straße 2
D-51147 Köln
falk.durm@germanwings.com
+49 2203 1027-5434

 

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