Swissport

Swissport International Ltd is a global cargo and aircraft ground handling business. In addition to its airline representation operations of ticketing, check-in, dispatch and ground handling services, Swissport also offers line maintenance, aircraft cleaning, and fueling services.

The company's operations cover over 181 stations in 42 countries employing over 21,000 people serving more than 70 million passengers annually. [cite web
url = http://www.swissport.info/corporate/index.php
title = The Swissport Profile
publisher = Swissport
accessdate = 2007-02-26 ]

History

The Swissport cargo was founded in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Swiss national airline, Swissair, charged with providing ground handling services. Expansion was rapid, and it created subsidiaries and entered joint ventures with others. In the 1990s it expanded considerably with the purchase of the extensive ground handling operations of Aer Lingus at London Heathrow Airport (which it subsequently shut down) and DynAir Holdings Inc in the USA which gave it extensive access to some of the world's busiest airports [cite web
url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/airlines/story/0,1371,1352956,00.html
title = Swissport closes Heathrow operation
publisher = The Guardian
author = Andrew Clark
date = 17 November 2004
accessdate = 2007-02-26 ] . The acquisition of Newcastle Airport-based Groundstar Limited in April 2004 marked a return to UK operation, with full ground handling services being provided by "Swissport UK" at London Gatwick, London Stansted, Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham Airports. In addition the company returned to London Heathrow, providing Station Management and ticketing services both there and at London City Airport. A workforce of 2,500 makes up the UK operation, 12.5% of the 20,000 personnel world wide [cite web
url = http://www.swissportuk.com/sppub/about/profile.htm
title = Swissport UK operation
publisher = Swissport
author =
date =
accessdate = 2008-09-12 ] .

Current status

Swissport is currently owned by the Spanish infrastructure and service company, Ferrovial. The company operates in 43 countries: Algeria, Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Bonaire, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Curaçao, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Tanzania, Ukraine, Uruguay, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela. [cite web
url = http://www.swissportuk.com
title = Welcome to Swissport UK
publisher = Swissport UK
accessdate = 2007-02-26 ]

References

External links

* http://www.swissport.ch
* http://www.swissport.info/network/index.php?cont=7