Swissport International Ltd. International customer journal Issue 1 January 1999

I N T E R N AT I O N A L C U S T O M E R J O U R N A L

SWISSPORT WORLDWIDE ■ Swissport Brasil Ltda. is well on the road to success

Swissport Brasil is only 18 months old, but it’s already operating at seven key airports in this enormous country. Swissport Brasil may have only been born on May 20, 1997; but the company has already notched up a number of successes. Under the guidance of CEO Aldo Ferretti, the young firm and its 900 highly motivated personnel offer the whole range of quality ground handling services at seven airports throughout this vast South American country.

I T A L L S T A R T E D fairly modestly, with Delta Air Lines’ daily departures from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, which Swissport Brasil started to handle on June 15, 1997. But in

1998, things really took off, with new airports added almost every month: Brasilia on March 1, Fortaleza on April 1, Manaus at the end of April, Salvador on July 1 and Recife on August 1, bringing to seven the airports benefiting from the company’s superior services. Aldo Ferretti, a Swiss by birth, and the company’s “Diretor para o Brasil”, may look back with a wry smile now on the work, the stress, the improvisation and the long days and short nights of those pioneering months. At the time, though, it was a phenomenal test for everyone involved,

SAirServices

The magnificent seven with countless hours of overtime,night shifts, and a virtual ban on weekends and even public holidays. Ferretti well remembers how he was selected from the Swissport Management Pool in March 1997 and asked to take a closer look at the “project” in Brazil. As a former Swissair man, Ferretti already had six years of experience of the country under his belt. So he was well familiar with its culture, customs, mentality and working methods. Perhaps most importantly of all, he had a working knowledge of the local language: as he says himself, “If you can’t speak Portuguese, you won’t get anywhere at all.”

INSIDE Hans Klaus, Head of SAirServices Corporate Communications, describes the division to which Swissport International is assigned in the SAirGroup and the synergies offered by its various member companies. Page 4

After some tough negotiations and a thorough assessment of the range of options available, Swissport International began its Brazilian adventure by assuming responsibility for the ground handling of Transbrasil, one of the country’s leading air carriers. With the ramp equipment it inherited from the airline – which included highloaders, belts, pushback tractors, passenger stairs, ground power units, dollies, and toilet and water trucks – Swissport Brasil was able to make rapid inroads into the local ground handling market. The deal also gave the new company virtually instant access to five of the country’s major airports.

INTERVIEW Swissport should have secured ISO 9002 certification for all its operations worldwide by mid-1999. Swissport Zurich, Geneva and Basel will have achieved this top quality standard by December 1998.

“Swissreporter” asked Paul Reutlinger, President & CEO of Sabena, about the latest industry developments – alliances, codeshares and so on – and for his views and impressions of the Swissport service product.

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SWISSPORT WORLDWIDE

tours the various airport operations to enhance the local staff’s knowledge, appreciation and skills. It’s an approach that has reaped sizable dividends: “Our customers tell us that we don’t just meet the standards they expect; we actually exceed them,” Ferretti says with pride.“But it’s something we absolutely have to do,” he adds. “We have strong local competitors in SATA and various smaller but very competitive ground handling companies; and we just have to aspire to this excellence if we want to survive.”

Where next? Having grown so rapidly in the last two years, Swissport Brasil’s next task is to consolidate its position and

“We want to maintain Swissport’s high quality standards in everything we do.” maintain its services at this high quality level. It has already built up a formidable customer base, which in-

”Everything OK?” Luiz Leite (right), Swissport’s Station Manager at São Paulo International Airport, makes a personal quality check of the company’s frontline operations. As Ferretti recalls, “It was very important for everyone concerned – the staff, the unions and the authorities – that we took over as quickly and smoothly as possible. That’s also why our workforce expanded from fifty to around a thousand in just four months!”

“With our name and our links to Swissair, familiarity with our company and its products is already very high.” One major factor in working the Brazilian market is the vast distances involved, as Ferretti points out. “It’s a bit like being based in Helsinki and being expected to run the operations in Athens, too. You can only do it if you’ve got good people in there doing the job for you.” It was thus clear for Ferretti from the start that he would have to have two or three top-class managers in place at each location – people he could rely on a hundred and ten per cent. “I recruited these top managers myself,” he recalls. “And I must say that this was where all the connections I had made in my previous years in Brazil came in very handy indeed.”

Invaluable investment It was an invaluable investment: as Ferretti readily admits, the company would never have negotiated those testing early months if it hadn’t been for the inexhaustible flexibility, the innovative skills and the sheer mobility of his management crew. The passenger stairs alone, to give just one example, had to be shifted some 13 000 kilometres by road before they were finally in the right airport location.

It was a learning experience, too: in those early weeks and months, almost 60 per cent of the time available was spent intensively training the company’s personnel. Motivation was never a problem: the Brazilian staff were raring to go. But there was a strong need to familiarise the new employees with the Swissport quality philosophy and the standards that were expected.

Constant training In fact, this training extended far beyond the initial start-up period, and continues to this day. Every area of the company’s activities has its own instructor/trainer who constantly

This pushback tractor, which was painted gold to celebrate Swissport Brasil’s first birthday, raised a round of smiles among customer carriers and other airport partners.

“We’re very happy working with Swissport!”A genuine enthusiasm for their jobs is plain to see with (right to left) Supervisor Claudia Lohmann and her check-in colleagues Raquel Marciana and Berenice Bhorgi. FA C T S & F I G U R E S Swissport Brasil Ltda. Total current workforce: Flights handled per month: Passengers handled per month: Cargo handled per month: Monthly turnover:

895 personnel 2800 30 000 7600 tonnes USD 2 million

The seven Brazilian airports at which Swissport Brasil currently operates are: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasilia, Manaus, Fortaleza, Recife and Salvador.

2 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999

cludes reputed air carriers such as Delta Air Lines, TAP Air Portugal, Spanair, Transbrasil, ATA, Laker, Inter Brasil, Total, TAM, Passadero and of course Swissair. Further approaches to potential customers are currently being made. “Keeping our expansion going at just the right pace is quite a challenge for all of us,” Ferretti concedes.“What we’re trying to do is keep our capacities and our skills geared as closely as possible to our customers’ wishes and volumes, to ensure that we can give all our customer airlines a ground handling product that fully lives up to the Swissport name.” But surely Aldo Ferretti has some longer-term goals, too? He does. “We want to be operating at the country’s top ten airports,” he says. In concrete terms, having built up a strong presence in the centre and north-east of the country, the company is looking to establish an operating base in the south, too – a particularly attractive prospect given the rapid rise of Mercosur. But Ferretti’s plans don’t stop there. They don’t even stop at the country’s borders: further expansion to Montevideo, Buenos Aires or other airports in Argentina, Chile or Peru are also in his project portfolio. Christian P. Somogyi

SWISSPORT WORLDWIDE

EYEWITNESS REPORT ■ Swissport Brasil in action at Rio International Airport

Breathing life into a quality philosophy Swissport Brasil has 232 personnel at Rio Airport, putting all their motivation and skills into their ground handling job.

Swissair and Spanair. “We’re quite prepared to develop completely new areas of activity at the new airport, too,” Calvacante adds with a smile.

S O M E 8 0 T O 9 0 per cent of Swissport Brasil’s workforce in Rio brought a vast amount of airline experience with them when they joined the South American member of the Swissport International group. “And we’re all incredibly proud to do our bit in maintaining our high quality standards,” emphasises Augusto Calvalcante, Station Manager for the airport’s Swissport operations. Swissport handles flights at Rio for Delta Air Lines, TAP Air Portugal, Transbrasil, Spanair, ATA and Swissair, though negotiations are currently under way with other possible customers, too. “We wouldn’t have much trouble adding a few other carriers,” adds Claudia Oelmann, who is in charge of contracts for the local Swissport organisation. Virtually everyone in the Swissport team is keen to stress the close and fruitful collaboration they enjoy with the other local operations of partner companies within the SAirGroup, such as Gate Gourmet, the airline catering organisation; and everyone is keenly aware of the synergic potential offered by these corporate family ties. “We can really use the excellent image of our multinational group of companies to offer packages of services that are precisely tailored to individual customer needs,” Oelmann explains. “That means not just ground handling services,but catering for their flights if they need it, or the kind of software solutions that Atraxis,our IT company,can provide.”

Stephan Beerli

State-of-the art terminal The Swissport Rio team finds it quite understandable that, as the business heart of the country, São Paulo presently generates more flights to handle than their own operation. But, as they are eager to point out, that could well change. Rio Airport is currently building a state-of-the-art terminal that will set new benchmarks of comfort for carriers and passengers alike. The local Swissport organisation is spreading its wings in other directions, too: it already acts as general manager for

Augusto Calvacante (right), Swissport’s Station Manager at Rio International Airport, talks to his Brazilian ramp staff.

PORTRAIT

Aldo E. Ferretti, Swissport’s “Diretor para o Brasil” ALDO FERRETTI has been a multinational nomad almost all his adult life. After a youth that took him to various locations in his native Switzer-

lowed up this initial vote of confidence with an offer to train him as a future station manager.Aldo was on his way, and was soon adding to his first experience abroad with relief duties in Kinshasa, Johannesburg,Nairobi,Hong Kong, Accra, Lagos and Singapore. In the end, as he puts it himself:“I just had to admit one day that I’d chosen Swissair rather than a physics degree.”

His initial deployments were followed by more permanent station management stints: Kinshasa for two years, Johannesburg for five years, Athens for three years, Karachi for two years, Aldo Ferretti, President and CEO of Swissport Singapore for two years, Rio Brasil, has set course for corporate success in no de Janeiro for six years and time at all. Nairobi for five years, along with further reliefs to Brazzaville, land, he completed his baccalau- Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Neryungri, reate in Thun (Canton Berne) and Yakutsk and Budapest. enrolled to study physics at Zurich University. He first came into con- So what did he get up to in all those tact with Swissair when he sought years? How did he spend his free part-time work to help finance his stu- hours, what hobbies did he pursue? “I dies: he was soon cleaning aircraft, spent my spare time in Beirut workloading and unloading baggage and ing on my pilot’s licence,” he recalls. performing any of a wide range of “I had a pilot’s licence before I had a additional casual tasks. driving licence, in fact. And I then took a Cessna 150 on a four-hour It was one of his uncles who drew his flight over the sea to Nicosia to indulge attention to a dispatcher’s course my second passion, parachuting. being offered.Aldo took it, but swore When I was in Karachi, I wasn’t too to himself that he would return im- far from the Maldives, so diving was mediately afterwards to finish his on the agenda.And during my time in degree. The trouble was, he was one Rio I got into ULMs – ultralight of the best on the course, and was aircraft.” In fact, he is the first ULM sent off for service in Beirut as soon pilot in the country to perform “longas it was over; and Swissair then fol- haul” flights as far as Paraguay and

along the Brazilian coast to the country’s north-east corner.

An inquisitive perfectionist So is Aldo Ferretti a bit of an adventurous type? How does he see himself? He grins at the suggestion.“An inquisitive perfectionist who’s always on the lookout for a new challenge – that’s how I’d describe myself,” he replies. He certainly seems to feel at home in Brazil. He communicates in fluent Portuguese with his business partners, as he does with the staff who break in on our interview from time to time for the odd instruction or decision.Aldo Ferretti currently lives on the coast, about 90 kilometres away from his workplace in São Paulo. But a move to Rio is already on the cards, when Swissport Brasil moves its head office there. Once he’s settled at his new location, he intends to devote more time to his music – he plays the piano and the clarinet – while continuing with his diving and his ULM pursuits. And where does a man who’s spent his whole life travelling plan to settle in the twilight of his career? He bought a house not far from Lugano, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, about ten years ago.“You have to put your roots down somewhere,” he explains. When he does go back, he’ll probably find a fairly overgrown garden awaiting him. But then again, he might just fly that ULM up the Amazon instead… Christian P. Somogyi

The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 3

SAirGroup

SAirServices ■ The “Global Service Provider” strategy

An impressive network of services extending all over the globe Swissport International is a member of the SAirGroup. In fact, it’s a direct subsidiary of SAirServices, which, with SAirLines (airline operations), SAirLogistics (cargo and logistics) and SAirRelations (hotels, catering and travel retail), make up the group’s four corporate divisions.

I T ’ S G O O D to know that Swissport is part of such a strong service leader as SAirServices. Of the four corporate divisions that make up the SAirGroup, SAirServices is certainly the most diverse. With SR Technics (aircraft engineering and maintenance),Swissport International (ground handling worldwide), Atraxis (air transportrelated IT applications), Avireal (facility management) and SAirServices Invest (the holding company for various smaller service providers), SAirServices is well on the way to realising the kind of “global service provider” strategy that is undoubtedly the way ahead.

cisely because of its heterogeneity that SAirServices offers so much synergic potential to airlines and airports alike. All the companies within SAirServices are legally autonomous entities which are fully owned by SAirServices AG, itself a whollyowned subsidiary of SAirGroup. The SAirServices division employs a total of some 7000 personnel,and generated overall turnover of CHF 1 841 million in 1996.

the whole airport handling market is gradually opening up, and more and more airport operators are turning to specialist companies to provide the handling services they require. This offers vast opportunities for Swissport International, the ground handling company of the SAirGroup. Swissport is already active on almost every continent, having undergone rapid growth in the last few months, and now operates in countries as geo-

A global network of services But what does the grouping of these varied companies under a single divisional banner really mean? It means that all the companies of SAirServices work closely together in a kind of “virtual network”, aligning and coordinating their products and services to ensure that they meet the customer’s needs as completely and comprehensively as possible. To take just one example, if Swissport International takes over the ground handling at Cape Town Airport for a number of carriers, its airline and airport customers might well want to make use of Atraxis’s sophisticated Departure Control System, too. In promoting interlinks and synergies of this kind, SAirServices can create a chain of services that offer the passenger a smooth and seamless air travel experience. In fact, it’s pre-

SR Technics – cost-effective aircraft maintenance As the independent successor to Swissair’s reputed engineering and maintenance division, SR Technics can draw on an impeccable pedigree of quality and reliability. SR Technics is not only responsible for the overhaul and maintenance of the entire Swissair aircraft fleet; it is also entrusted with the technical care of the fleets of other airline clients. In fact, some 50 per cent of its total capacity is devoted to third-party customers outside the SAirGroup. SR Technics offers the full range of maintenance and overhaul services for Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus aircraft at its Zurich and Shannon bases, right up to heavy maintenance visits – the major stripdown overhauls that each aircraft undergoes every few years. The company is constantly adding to its range of services, too: preparations are currently under way to handle the new Airbus A330 and A340, which are joining the fleets of Swissair and its airline partners over the next few years.

Swissport makes SAirServices happen

Swissport – a world leader in cost-effective ground handling “Everything has to be just right” – Swissport’s slogan says it all.As many international airports around the world are readied for privatisation,

4 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999

graphically diverse as Turkey, Puerto Rico,Germany and Brazil. The expansion is likely to continue: Swissport has set itself the clear goal of becoming one of the biggest ground handling providers in the world.

Of course, no airline today can succeed without effective ground handling. The quality services that Swissport offers its fellow companies in the SAirGroup – and Swissair and Crossair in particular – are a key factor in those companies’ and the group’s success. It is a success that heartens Swissport and all its personnel, and a sign that the company is excellently positioned for the years ahead, whatever challenges growing liberalisation and intensifying competition may bring. Because whatever surprises the future may hold for the air transport world, one thing is certain: effective ground handling has never been needed more. Hans Klaus

INSIDE

QUALITY MANAGEMENT ■ Swissport introduces ISO 9002 worldwide

A milestone on the TQM road Swissport Zurich, the Swissport International group’s biggest operation with some 2000 personnel, successfully obtained ISO 9002 certification at the end of September. And Swissport Geneva and Basel were set to receive this quality seal of approval in December 1998.

I N T O D AY ’ S M A R K E T environment of increasing liberalisation and ever-toughening competition, Swissport is more determined than ever to meet its customers’ quality expectations, however high they may be. “In obtaining ISO 9002 certification, we are undertaking to maintain and further develop a system of permanent enhancement of our services and our products, to the benefit of all our customers,”says Willy Hallauer,Swissport Zurich’s President and CEO. But what exactly does it mean for a customer to work together with a ground handling company that applies the ISO 9002 norm? Barbara Zweifel, Vice President Finance & Planning, explains:“Swissport Zurich has three main areas – passenger handling, baggage handling and

aircraft handling – in which all the workflows and procedures are now documented in detail. It was a lot of work, but it was very important work, too.”

“ISO certification is a real milestone for us on our road to total quality management.” “The main benefit, though, is for our customers,” Zweifel continues. “ISO 9002 gives them total transparency for all the various workflows. It’s a kind of guarantee, if you like, that the standards we’ve agreed for each area of our activity – ramp services, baggage sorting, aircraft cleaning, passenger assistance, gate services, lost-andfound and so on – will always be met, regardless of who is actually doing the work concerned.” “Our ISO 9002 certificate really makes us something of a pioneer in the ground handling business,”adds Simon Widmer,

Swissport Zurich’s Vice President Marketing. “And make no mistake: our commitment to ISO 9002 is far more than a paper one. ISO 9002 is a clear promise from our Executive Management and our personnel to keep faithfully to all our contractual agreements and work continually to make them as beneficial as possible to everyone concerned.”

Customer benefit counts One of the most crucial conditions of ISO certification is its insistence that every certified company should ap-

point its own quality management officer.The duties of the officer are to conduct internal quality audits, and to assist in quality audits conducted by outside parties.They are also expected to submit monthly quality reports to the company’s top management.

“Our ISO 9002 workflows and procedures have to be regularly checked. This allows us to identify sources of errors and take the relevant action without delay.” “Customer benefit is definitely centrestage in all these activities,” says Hansjörg Meyer, the Quality Management Officer for Swissport Zurich. Meyer is convinced that, with the individual security that each employee now has through having a clearer picture of the workflows involved and their own personal role, Swissport will be even better able to adapt its ground handling services to individual and special customer needs.“In this sense,” he concludes, ”ISO certification is a real milestone for us on our road to total quality management.”

The Swissport Zurich ISO 9002 team can be proud of what they have achieved. From left: Simon Widmer, Vice President Marketing & Communications; Hansjörg Meyer, Quality Management Officer; Barbara Zweifel, Vice President Finance & Planning; Pit Lehmann and Walter Streuli, Managers Purchasing & Ground Support Equipment.

Joe Fritsche

The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 5

NETWORK

Some of the more than 300 customers served by Swissport International around the world Adria Airways Aer Lingus Aeroflot Air Canada Air Engiadina Air India Air Lanka Air Littoral Air Malta Air Mauritius Air Nostrum Air One Air Seychelles Alitalia American Airlines AOM Austrian Airlines Avioimpex Balair/CTA Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Base Airlines British Airways British Midland Cathay Pacific China Airlines Cie Corse Méditerrannée Croatia Airlines Crossair Cyprus Airways Czech Airlines Delta Air Lines Egyptair El Al Emirates Eurowings Finnair Iberia Icelandair Japan Airlines JAT KLM Korean Air Kuwait Airways Lauda Air LOT Lufthansa Luxair Maersk Air Malaysia Airlines Malev Meridiana Middle East Airlines Olympic Airways Pakistan International Regional Airlines Royal Air Maroc Royal Jordanian Sabena SAS Saudi Arabian Airlines Singapore Airlines Sobelair South African Airlines Swissair TAP Air Portugal Tatra Air Thai Airways Tunis Air Turkish Airlines Tyrolean Airways VASP

6 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999

K E Y F I G U R E S F O R 19 9 8 Number of employees Revenue (USD)

6 580 415 000 000

Passengers handled p.a.

35 200 000

Aircraft handled p.a.

343 000

Hamburg London

Berlin

Düsseldorf

Frankfurt Stuttgart Basel Munich Zurich Geneva

Istanbul Ankara

Izmir Bodrum

Antalya Dalaman

NETWORK

San Juan

Tel Aviv

Cairo

Manaus Fortaleza Recife Salvador Brasilia

Nairobi Rio de Janeiro São Paulo

Johannesburg Durban Cape Town

Trabzon

Adana

L O C AT I O N

ENTITY

London

Swissport

Jan 97

Düsseldorf

aerogate*

Dec 97

Frankfurt

aerogate*

Jan 99

Berlin

aerogate*

Jan 98

Hamburg

aerogate*

Jan 98

Stuttgart

aerogate*

Nov 97

Munich

aerogate*

Nov 97

Adana

Havas*

Sep 97

Ankara

Havas*

Sep 97

Antalya

Havas*

Sep 97

Bodrum

Havas*

Sep 97

Dalaman

Havas*

Sep 97

Istanbul

Havas*

Sep 97

Izmir

Havas*

Sep 97

Trabzon

Havas*

Sep 97

Tel Aviv

Q.A.S.*

Nov 96

Nairobi

Swissport

Sep 97

Johannesburg

Swissport

Jan 98

Cape Town

Swissport

Jan 98

Durban

Swissport

Jan 98

São Paulo

Swissport

Jun 97

Rio de Janeiro

Swissport

Jun 97

Manaus

Swissport

Apr 98

Fortaleza

Swissport

Apr 98

Brasilia

Swissport

Mar 98

Recife

Swissport

Aug 98

Salvador da Bahia

Swissport

Jul 98

Puerto Rico

Swissport

Nov 97

Cairo

EAS*

Jan 97

* joint venture with Swissport

O P E R AT I O N A L A S O F

P L A N N E D F O R 19 9 9 France Greece Italy Spain Peru Argentina and some other key projects currently under way (subject to approval).

The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 7

OUR CUSTOMERS

“Most of the increase in traffic that we’ve seen in 1997 and 1998 has been in connecting passengers.”

INTERVIEW ■ with Paul Reutlinger, President and CEO of Sabena

“I give our ground handlers excellent marks.” How does Sabena, a key Swissport customer, view the products and services of the SAirGroup’s ground handling company? We visited Paul Reutlinger, President and CEO of the Belgian-based airline, to solicit his views on the latest industry developments – codeshares, alliances and hubs – and his honest opinion of the Swissport service product.

cent of us through its subsidiary SAirLines. I must admit I did say “Swissair” a few times at the start when I meant to say “Sabena”. But not any more! I’ve become quite a “Sabenien” now.

Swissreporter: Mr. Reutlinger, next spring you’ll be celebrating forty years of service with Swissair and the SAirGroup. Your blood must have little white crosses in it! So how easy was it for you to swap clothes and become a Sabena man?

I think we can be very proud of our European network. We’ve got no fewer than eleven destinations in France, for instance.

Paul Reutlinger: I found it pretty easy, actually, for a number of reasons. One of them was the strong similarities between Swissair and my new company. They’re both the airlines of a small country with a small home market. And don’t forget that we’re an airline of the SAirGroup, too: the SAirGroup owns 49.5 per

You’re keen to turn Brussels into a real European hub for Sabena. Does that mean you want to focus more on your European network?

“A good hub will create extra traffic itself.” We have over 110 flights a day between Belgium and the UK. And we opened our 75th European destination a few days ago.This whole exten-

8 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999

sive European network is centred on our Brussels hub, which, fortunately for us, is in a great position geographically for north-south and eastwest traffic. Our long-haul network is fairly small in comparison. So our next efforts will be focused on growing our long-haul routes, especially to and from the Far East. You also aim to make Brussels the hub with the shortest transfer times – 25 minutes is the figure we hear. With a connecting time as short as this, will you still be able to offer the kind of ground handling standards you want – like making sure that all the baggage is properly handled and loaded onto the right flights? This minimum connecting time is a vital element in ensuring the competitiveness of our product. It’s a goal of the Qualiflyer Group, too, by the way, and one I wholeheartedly support. In fact, we’ve got our minimum transfer time for Brussels down to 30 minutes already.

How did you manage that? We’ve only been able to achieve this by introducing a totally new installation. It’s called the Quick Transfer Centre, and it’s home to all the services – security, the police, the customs authorities and so on. On top of that, we’ve introduced a sophisticated system of Care Teams to collect people with tight connections from the aircraft when they arrive, take them by bus to the Quick Transfer Centre, process them there and then take them to their onward flight. It’s proved very popular: most of the increase in traffic that we’ve seen in 1997 and 1998 has been in connecting passengers. Quick connections are probably very popular with business travellers, aren’t they? Yes, but it’s not so much the quickness of the connection that’s important; it’s what we call the “elapsed travel time” – the total time it takes you to get from A to C via B.

OUR CUSTOMERS How do you mean? Well, it’s the elapsed travel time that determines where your connection will appear on a computer screen display when the passenger comes to book their flight.

“I think we can be very proud of our European network.” If your elapsed travel time is short enough, you’ll be on the first screen, and you’ll be as close to the top of it as possible. That’s a huge advantage: studies have shown that 85 per cent of all bookings all over the world are made on flights that appear on the first screen display.

Ground handling vital How would you rate ground handling in terms of its importance to Sabena’s entire service chain? Very high. Let’s face it, the battle for customers today is fought on the ground, not in the air. So the better you are on the ground, the faster, more efficient and friendlier your personnel, then the better your overall product will be. Here in Brussels, Sabena has its own extensive ground handling organisation. But how can you win the “battle on the ground” if you outsource those activities to a specialist ground handling company like Swissport? If we outsource our ground handling, we must have a cast-iron guarantee that these activities are going to be performed professionally, that the company can offer them at a competitive rate, and that it can do all this while still conveying our corporate identity to our customers. When it

“The quality of its ground handling is a vital factor in any airline’s success.”

formance, its customer focus and its service-provider potential? I think the infrastructure is the most important thing of all – short distances, no major obstacles, that kind of thing. If the infrastructure is right, the rest should fall into place.

A professional approach And what expectations does Sabena have of a specialist ground handling company? A professional attitude and approach; friendliness with customers; and a check-in system that works flawlessly, of course. If, as a customer airline, you can find a company that performs ground handling as its core business and has the critical mass to make it worthwhile investing in advanced systems, workflows and training for its staff, you’re onto a very good thing. As a member of the Qualiflyer Group, are you obliged to choose Swissport as your ground handling partner, or are you free to choose your ground handler yourselves? We’re free. We have, it’s true, established a company within the Qualiflyer Group that belongs to all of its members. The idea of Qualiflyer Ground Services is to buy-in ground handling for the group’s member airlines in Europe, beyond their various home markets. When it comes to do so, Swissport is just one of a number of candidate providers. You travel between Brussels and Zurich quite a lot yourself, so you must be pretty familiar with Swissport’s products from first-hand experience. Your impressions? I’m always pleasantly surprised at how friendly and obliging the people are. I always find myself wondering: is it because they know who I am, or are they like this with all their customers? But when I talk to our Belgian customers, they tell me that Swissport’s product in Zurich really is something rather special. They really do have

“Let’s face it, the battle for customers today is fought on the ground, not in the air.” friendly staff who do their job with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of speed.

Do you think we are going to see more outsourcing within the airline business?

Among the best

I think so. I think we’ll see more and more airlines returning increasingly to their core business of flying people from one place to another, and outsourcing all their other activities.

With the kind of job you have, you must have experienced a lot of ground handling operations all over the world. How would you rate Swissport’s services by comparison with them? If we gave you a scale of one to ten, for instance, with ten as the best mark, what grade would you give? If I think of Swissport’s services in Zurich, I’d have to put them right up among the best in the business. I’d give them a nine, I think. So there is room for improvement…? Not really. That missing point is more of a reflection of Zurich Airport as a whole. I think the infrastructure really needs to be improved. In what way? If you’re a passenger at a bus gate during one of the peak times, you’ll find it very hard to find a seat. I think an airport needs to be a “living organism”, too: it needs to set trends, exude a certain style, appeal to the senses, and offer its users an experience of some kind. I must say, though, that Zurich is making some efforts here.

And I would say that the better and more competitively a specialist operator can do these other jobs – Swissport is a good example in the ground handling field – the bigger the chance that an airline will ask them to do so. How do you see the airline industry developing as a whole? I think we’re going to see greater and greater consolidation into large interairline alliances. As President of Sabena, it’s very important to me that we are part of one of these big families, too. Do you see any developments in the sector that will only affect Sabena? No strategic ones, no: all of these would have to be discussed and coordinated with Swissair and the rest of the Qualiflyer Group. In this sense, we certainly see no value in developing our own set of alliance accords. What we will continue to do is conclude route-specific partnerships, much like Swissair has done on its Far East routes. I’m sure this is the best approach: rather than compete with each other head-on all the time, it can often make far more sense to work together.

comes to the service chain, the “provider authority” should always remain with the airline. Swissport can do all this: with its dedicated services, it has already shown its customer airlines that it can represent their interests and still look after their passengers as if the carrier were doing this itself. As President and CEO of Sabena, what would you say are the most important things you expect from a ground handling company in terms of its per-

“I find Swissport friendly, professional and quick.”

Thank you for your time. “In my personal experience, Swissport’s staff really do get on with their job with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of speed.”

Interview and photos: Christian P. Somogyi

The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 9

NEWSBRIEFS

Swissport news and views fro Q.A.S. enjoys success in private and corporate market Q.A.S. of Tel Aviv has developed a Special Flights Team dedicated to the private and corporate flight market. The move reflects the company’s conviction that this market sector will see further growth in both volume and revenue terms. Q.A.S. has recruited a wide range of customers over the last two years. Many of them are “frequent travellers”, meaning the company gets to handle their flights at least more than once. Q.A.S has also developed an excellent reputation for itself within the companies sending it the clients: its ability to arrange landing permits at relatively short notice, its full-services package including reduced fuel prices along with VIP hotel accommodation, catering and transportation, and above all the personal attention provided by the Special Flights Team all combine to provide a top-quality VIP corporate handling service. Clients already recruited include Jet Aviation, Business Jets, Aeroleasing Geneva & Ukraine,Air Routing International and Baseops Europe. The latest addition to the client roll is JET-LINK, an Israeli-based operator with a fleet of five executive jets. For further information contact: The Q.A.S. Special Flights Team Phone 00972 3 9730365 / 9733099 / 9712557 (24-hour service) Fax 00972 3 9730365 E-mail [email protected] Eyal Sagi

How Swissport is ensuring Year 2000 compliance Swissport takes the Year 2000 issue very seriously indeed. Over the past twelve months, a team of senior employees has been working to identify all possible problem areas, inventorising hundreds of computer applications, infrastructure elements and business relations. As a result, the group now knows exactly what needs to be certified as Year 2000-compliant. At the individual Swissport company level, each CEO is assuming direct responsibility for ensuring that their organisation achieves overall Year 2000 compliance. And each CEO is sup-

ported in these endeavours by their own dedicated team. Group.2000 is the central task force appointed to ensure Year 2000 compliance throughout the SAirGroup. Swissport’s Chief Information Officer, who is a member of the task force, is in overall charge of Y2K activities within the Swissport International group. In fact, Swissport has already achieved Year 2000 compliance with its core computer applications. Since the group and its activities are closely linked to the

airport authorities, air traffic control and many other airport service suppliers, Swissport has set up a comprehensive programme with its main airports of Zurich, Geneva and Basel. At all other stations,Swissport is working with IATA to ensure that each station will be audited for its Year 2000 compliance and a compliance statement issued in the light of these activities. Swissport will conform to British Standards Institute (BSI) Year 2000 compliance criteria. In doing so, it will offer all its customers the comfort of receiving the same top-quality ground handling services before, during and after the millennium change. Urs von Euw

10 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999

ATMOS: a worldwide survey on social climate The Executive Management of Swissport International, in agreement with all Country Managers, is conducting a worldwide survey on the social climate within the Swissport International group. The project, which goes under the name of ATMOS, is being led by ProMind Consulting Ltd., a company based in Lausanne, Switzer-

land. The aim of the survey is to listen to staff and obtain a precise picture of how they feel about their current situation within their company and the Swissport International group. The survey covers a broad range of topics including company structure and objectives, management, the employee’s own field of activity, the efficiency of existing workflows and procedures, and satisfaction with working conditions and the job as a whole. The survey was conducted simultaneously in the first two weeks of November in all countries where Swissport International is represented.The responses are currently being evaluated.The Swissport International group plans to make such surveys a regular event, to monitor general contentment within its companies’ ranks. Joseph In Albon

Studying baggage handling operations in Zurich Three staff members from the Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) Baggage Unit visited Zurich Airport recently to study and understand the working of the baggage handling system at one of Europe’s best airports. Baggage Supervisors Catherine Chong and S. Kanapathy and Baggage Officer Mutaliff Irnapullah made the visit at the invitation of SATS’ client, Swissair.They spent three days with Swissair’s ground handling agent Swissport and SIA Station Manager Zurich B.Sachithananthan. They observed the functioning of the baggage handling system, the baggage reconciliation system (BRS),the baggage transfer facility, lost and found, and other aspects of baggage operations. Many features of the baggage operations system in Zurich are similar to those in Singapore, and the baggage experts made the most of their visit, discussing with Swissport staff operational matters – including constraints and problems faced by baggage handlers – and ways to improve work methods. Said Catherine:“It was a good learning experience to watch the Swiss baggage boys in action. I was very impressed with their efficiency and good work attitude.” In the team’s report, several good practices adopted by Swissport were highlighted, and recommendations made for SATS to adopt some of the BRS procedures. (from “Outlook” the in-house newspaper of the Singapore Airlines Group)

Swissport pulls out all the stops in Puerto Rico The good life of Puerto Rico was rudely interrupted on September 21 when Hurricane Georges arrived in mid-afternoon. Within a couple of terrifying hours, the hurricane had done incredible damage all over the island, ripping open buildings, tearing off roofs, replanting trees in the middle of highways and turning streets into furious torrents.

NEWSBRIEFS

m all over the world Luckily, none of Swissport’s local staff were injured; indeed, apart from a few baggage carts, even the company’s equipment was left largely intact. There was, however, no power, no water and no means of communication. San Juan Airport was declared closed all day on September 22. But the very next morning, some reduced flight activity resumed; and so Swissport, too, had to swing back into action. It did so,with a much-reduced crew,no power, no water and only one telephone line. Under these extremely difficult conditions, all our employees showed tremendous dedication to their job.

The staff at Swissport Puerto Rico did a fantastic job recently under extremely difficult conditions. The following days were to prove even more hectic, as an air bridge of charters – Boeing 747s,Antonovs, US Air Force aircraft and more – landed day and night bringing relief supplies, generators, water, food, and even ice cubes (seeing 29 pallets of ice cubes unloaded from a 747 is a sight to remember!). The activity was so hectic, in fact, that parking stands and warehouse space were soon at a premium. But of one resource there was never any shortage – the dedication and enthusiasm of Swissport’s local staff. Jacques Delessert

Top managers make a splash Swissport International held its firstever Management Meeting for the CEOs and Vice Presidents of all its member companies at the end of Au-

The first-ever meeting of Swissport managers from all over the world: total focus during the sessions…

…and total commitment to their riverrafting voyage! gust, when these top executives descended on the mountain resort of Engelberg in Central Switzerland. Over 60 managers attended, representing more than 20 Swissport stations all over the world. The attendees spent two days of intensive working sessions listening to brief presentations from Swissport International Executive Management on the corporate policy, goals and strategies of the rapidlygrowing group.The event also offered an opportunity for the various executives to get to know each other a little better, courtesy of a traditional Swiss Evening Meal.There had been talk of a test of courage in store for all attendees – bungy jumping out of the cable car up to local Mount Titlis. But the rumours proved unfounded; so it was with a strange sense of relief that the group’s top managers clambered into rubber dinghies for a teambuilding riverrafting experience on the River Aa instead. Dieter Altenburger

ducted by Swissport Zurich in close collaboration with the Zurich Airport Authority, Jet Aviation and the Swiss Federal Railways to extend the service to other air carriers. With the results of the trial run now evaluated, the partners have set themselves the clear aim of introducing full check-in (with seat reservation and boarding card) for all scheduled and charter carriers at 23 Swiss rail stations from summer 1999. Simon Widmer

Swissport Zurich treats customers and airport partners Swissport Zurich took great pleasure in inviting the management of all its customer airlines and its main airport partners, along with their spouses, to its first dinner-dance on November 3. The whole evening was arranged around a surprise excursion, and every effort was made to keep the two destinations a secret. The event kicked off with a guided tour and cocktails at Zurich Zoo.After this, the 100 or so guests were taken on for a delicious candlelight dinner at the “Giardino Verde” or “Green Garden” – not a garden, in fact, but a former nursery now converted into a select jungle-style restaurant available to private groups.

Published by: Swissport International Ltd. – an SAirServices company Publishers: Stephan Beerli, Vice President Marketing & Sales, Swissport International Ltd. E-mail: [email protected] Hans Klaus Corporate Communications SAirServices E-mail: [email protected] Editor-in-chief: Christian P. Somogyi E-mail: [email protected] Contributors to this issue: Dieter Altenburger Stephan Beerli Jacques Delessert Joe Fritsche Joseph In Albon Hans Klaus Eyal Sagi Christian P. Somogyi Urs von Euw Simon Widmer Translations: SAirGroup Translations Layout and art direction: Caroline Lipp, DAZ Printing: DAZ, Druckerei Albisrieden AG Zurich Editorial and production office: CPS Communications, Zurich Phone: +41 1 252 20 27 Fax: +41 1 260 65 24 Publication: Three times a year.

Letting the train take the strain Zurich and Geneva airports have long been fully linked into the Swiss rail system. Both airports can be reached quickly and smoothly via inter-city trains from almost every part of the country. For a few years now, that journey has been even more comfortable and convenient than before. The unique Fly Baggage system enables air travellers leaving from Zurich or Geneva and getting to the airport by train to hand in their baggage at their local rail station and have it checked through to their air destination. The Swiss railways also offer the possibility of checking in for the flight at some 20 Swiss rail stations. Up till now, this “full-check-in” service has only been available for travellers on Swissair, the airlines of the Qualiflyer Group and Balair/CTA. But from October 1 to 31, a pilot project was con-

Swissport Zurich’s customer airlines and key airport partners enjoy the company’s first surprise excursion, which ended up at the “Giardino Verde”.

After the meal Willy Hallauer, President and CEO of Swissport Zurich, thanked all the company’s partners for their continued business and the excellent cooperation that Swissport had enjoyed with them in 1998. The festivities were concluded with an exotic floorshow with two “snakepeople”, live music and dancing. Simon Widmer

Subscriptions: Free subscriptions are available for management personnel of airlines and other selected companies. Please send your subscription registration, together with your full address, to the Swissreporter Information Desk. Changes of address: Please send details of any change of address (by returning your mailing label with the changes clearly indicated) and any other correspondence regarding subscriptions to the Swissreporter Information Desk, Fax: +41 1 812 90 94. Printed in Switzerland. © 1999 Swissport International Ltd., Zurich Airport, Switzerland. Swissreporter Information Desk: Phone: +41 1 812 49 54 Fax: +41 1 812 90 94 Internet: www.swissport.ch

The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999 – Swissreporter 11

POSTSCRIPT CEO BOX

Switzerland

Swissport Zurich Ltd. P.O. Box 8058 Zurich Airport Willy Hallauer, President & CEO Phone: +41 1 812 61 70 Fax: +41 1 812 91 95 SITA: ZRHKSSR Swissport Genève SA P.O. Box 1215 Geneva Airport Ernest Hochuli, President & CEO Phone: +41 22 799 30 10 Fax: +41 22 799 31 67 SITA: GVAOKSR Swissport Basel Ltd. P.O. Box 4030 Basel Airport Georg Peter, President & CEO Phone: +41 61 325 23 00 Fax: +41 61 325 23 07 SITA: BSLKSSR Brazil

Swissport means customer dedication Swissport was established as a legally-autonomous ground handling company on January 1, 1997, as part of a broader reorganisation of the SAirGroup. The roots of our new company lay in Swissair’s former ground handling operations in Zurich, Geneva and Basel. And it was on the strength of this experience and expertise that Swissport International set out to expand its business and operations into countries all over the world. Now, after just 19 months of truly dynamic growth, Swissport operates at 32 airports in Europe, the Middle East, South America and Africa, and numbers some 300 airlines among its customers. Our strategy is a simple one: to develop a global network of ground handling companies on the strength and the basis of the quality services we provide. Wherever Swissport is around, its customer airlines can count on services with a “Swiss quality” label.Well-trained managers, qualified and motivated personnel, and state-of-the-art computer systems and equipment – these are our trump cards in everything we do. Plus, of course, our central Quality Assurance System, which is our customers’ guarantee that the principles of the Swissport Quality handbook are applied all over the world.And our ISO 9002 certification, which we were scheduled to have for all three of our Swiss operations – in Zurich, Geneva and Basel – by the end of 1998, and which we should have for all our non-Swiss operations by the middle of 1999. Swissport has set one principle above all else: customer dedication. Whatever our customers need to distinguish themselves and their product at the airports they serve, we will provide it. An ongoing dialogue with our customers is a key component in all these endeavours.And the publication you hold in your hands will be, we hope, one of our best vehicles of communication, helping us keep you fully informed about us and our activities, and giving you the chance to tell us what’s on your mind. I look forward to hearing from you. Joseph In Albon President & CEO Swissport International Ltd.

Brasilia, Fortazela, Manaus, Salvador, São Paulo, Recife, Rio de Janeiro Swissport Brasil Ltda. Aeroporto Internacional de São Paulo Terminal 2 / Asa C Caixa Postal 3061 07141-970 Guarulhos – SP Aldo Ferretti, President & CEO Phone: +55 11 6445 22 02 Fax: +55 11 6445 24 89 SITA: GRUXHSR Kenya

Nairobi AirSide Ltd. / Swissport Kenya Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Unit 2 P.O. Box 44549 Nairobi Olav Everts, President & CEO Phone: +254 2 82 20 20 Fax: +254 2 82 23 29 SITA: NBOKSSR United Kingdom

London Swissport U.K. Ltd. Heathrow Airport Terminal 2, Room 2065 Hounslow, Middlesex, TW6 1HG United Kingdom Carlyle Grey, President & CEO Phone: +44 181 754 91 22 Fax: +44 181 759 78 26 SITA: LHRKSSR Germany

C O N TA C T S International

Swissport International Ltd. P.O. Box, 8058 Zurich Airport Joseph In Albon, President & CEO Phone: +41 1 812 27 79 Fax: +41 1 812 93 34 SITA: ZRHDISR Stephan Beerli, Vice President Marketing & Sales Phone: +41 1 812 49 50 Fax: +41 1 812 90 94 SITA: ZRHOXSR

Thomas Neff, Vice President Business Development Phone: +41 1 812 27 24 Fax: +41 1 812 93 34 SITA: ZRHDISR Dieter Altenburger, Vice President Finance Phone: +41 1 812 26 50 Fax: +41 1 812 90 94 SITA: ZRHOXSR

12 Swissreporter – The Swissport customer journal ■ January 1999

Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich aerogate P.O. Box 231533 85324 Munich Airport, Germany Werner Teubner, General Manager Phone: +49 89 9759 23 00 Fax: +49 89 9759 22 34 SITA: MUCKK8X

Stuttgart, Frankfurt aerogate P.O. Box 14, Terminal 2 60549 Frankfurt, Germany Hermann Delliehausen, President & CEO Phone: +49 69 6980 99 51 Fax: +49 69 6980 99 50 SITA: FRAKSSR Puerto Rico

San Juan Swissport Puerto Rico Inc. 150 Carr. Sector Central L.M.M. International Airport Suite 14 Carolina, P.R. 00979 Jacques Delessert, President & CEO Phone: +1 787 791 48 28 Fax: +1 787 791 30 95 SITA: SJUKKSR South Africa

Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg Swissport South Africa P.O. Box 111 Johannesburg International Airport Johannesburg, South Africa Armin Unternährer, President & CEO Phone: +27 11 928 85 26 Fax: +27 11 928 85 47 SITA: JNBOWXH Israel

Tel Aviv Q.A.S. – Quality Airport Services P.O. Box 136 Ben Gurion International Airport 70100 Tel Aviv Yossi Raviv, President & CEO Phone: +972 3 971 25 57 Fax: +972 3 971 23 16 SITA: TLVKKCR Turkey

Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Istanbul, Izmir, Trabzon HAVAS Prof. Nurettin Öktem Sk. No. 2 80260 Sisli – Istanbul Jean-Didier Savioz, President & CEO Phone: +90 212 233 24 84 Fax: +90 212 233 38 53 SITA: ISTGMXH

FEEDBACK, PLEASE!

Our new customer journal is intended to keep you fully briefed of all developments in the range of our activities, the breadth of our services, the extent of our network and the skills and expertise of our staff. But that’s not all: we want to include you – our customers – in “Swissreporter”, too. So please write, fax or e-mail us or use the enclosed questionnaire to tell us what you think of our first “Swissreporter”, so that we can tailor Issue Two even more closely to your wishes and needs. We look forward to your feedback!