Aviapartner

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Aviapartner
IndustryAviation
Founded1949 (as Belgavia)
Headquarters
Brussels Airport
,
Belgium
Key people
Richard Prince,[1] CEO
ServicesAircraft ground handling
Aircraft maintenance
Websitewww.aviapartner.aero

Aviapartner, whose origins date back to 1949 under the name of Herfurth Air Services to become 'Belgavia' in the late 1960s, is a Belgian company that provides ground handling services at 72 airports in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and recently in South-Africa (acquired part of South-African handler). Among the airports served are Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan, Düsseldorf, Rome, Nice, Toulouse and Málaga .[2]

History[edit]

In 1949, Belgavia was founded in Antwerp, Belgium. In the coming years, they expanded their services to the airports of Ostend (1957), Liège (1965) and Brussels (1970). It took until the 90's for the company to go international. Bases in France and later in Germany were opened. In 1999, the name was changed to Aviapartner. The group expanded by taking over Servisair in Rotterdam (2002), Aero Groundservices in Amsterdam (2007) and SAT in Bordeaux and La Rochelle (2010).[3]

In 2011, Aviapartner lost its handling licence in Brussels for seven years to Swissport. This could lead to the loss of thousands of jobs and led to a major 24-hour strike in June 2011 that affected many flights and passengers.[4] Aviapartner went to court as they believed juridical mistakes had been made. The judge ruled that a new investigation was to be conducted and that, in the meantime, Aviapartner could continue operations at the airport. Before a new investigation was concluded, Swissport took over Flightcare, the other ground handling company at the airport. Note that only two handling licences are issued at the airport.

In 2012, Aviapartner announced a merge with the French Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), making them the biggest ground handler in Europe.[5] This merge was not successful.[6]

Range of ground handling services[edit]

  • Passenger handling:

Check-in, ticketing, boarding assistance, lost and found baggage services, assistance to disabled passengers, passenger ground transportation.

  • Ramp handling:

Loading and unloading of baggage and cargo to/from aircraft on the ramp, ground power provision for aircraft, cleaning, water and sanitary services, freight and baggage transfer to terminal, crew transfer from aircraft to terminal/hotel, pushback and towing, with headset, aircraft de-icing.

  • Traffic operations:

Preparation of flight documentation, ground to air communication, calculation of weight and balance, set-up of loadsheet, crew briefing, flight supervision.

  • Cargo handling:

Warehousing, palletizing, import and export procedures, customs clearance, trucking services.

  • Courier handling:

Transfer of courier and express shipments to/from other warehouses and aircraft, handling of express flights operated from the Brussels Airport Courier center.

Airports served by Aviapartner[edit]

Country Airport IATA ICAO Passenger Handling Ramp Handling Executive Handling Cargo Handling
 Belgium Brussels (HQ) BRU EBBR ● ● ● ●
 Belgium Antwerp ANR EBAW ● ●
 Belgium Liège LGG EBLG ● ● ● ●
 Belgium Ostend-Bruges OST EBOS ● ● ● ●
 France Bordeaux BOD LFBD ● ● ●
 France La Rochelle LRH LFBH ● ● ●
 France Lille LIL LFQQ ● ● ●
 France Lyon-Saint Exupéry LYS LFLL ● ●
 France Marseille MRS LFML ● ● ●
 France Montpellier MPL LFMT ● ● ●
 France Nantes NTE LFRS ● ● ●
 France Nice NCE LFMN ● ● ●
 France Saint-Nazaire SNR LFRZ ●
 France Strasbourg SXB LFST ● ● ●
 France Toulouse TLS LFBO ● ● ●
 Germany Düsseldorf DUS EDDL ● ●
 Germany Hannover HAJ EDDV ● ● ●
 Italy Bologna BLQ LIPE ● ●
 Italy Catania CTA LICC ● ●
 Italy Lamezia SUF LICA ● ● ●
 Italy Milan Linate LIN LIML ● ● ●
 Italy Milan Malpensa MXP LIMC ● ● ● ●
 Italy Palermo PMO LICJ ● ● ●
 Italy Reggio di Calabria REG LICR ● ● ●
 Italy Roma Ciampino CIA LIRA ● ●
 Italy Roma Fiumicino FCO LIRF ● ●
 Italy Turin TRN LIMF ● ● ●
 Italy Venice Marco Polo VCE LIPZ ● ● ●
 Netherlands Amsterdam Schiphol AMS EHAM ● ● ●
 Netherlands Rotterdam RTM EHRD ● ●
 Spain Fuerteventura FUE GCFV ● ●
 Spain Girona-Costa Brava GRO LEGE ● ●
 Spain Lanzarote ACE GCRR ● ●
 Spain Málaga AGP LEMG ● ● ●
 Spain Menorca MAH LEMH ● ●
 Spain Sevilla SVQ LEZL ● ●
 Spain Tenerife South TFS GCTS ● ●

Corporate Airlines at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol[edit]

Corporate Airlines at Brussels Airport[edit]

Corporate Airlines at Nice Airport[edit]

Awards[edit]

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol presented Aviapartner with 'The Best Handler Award' in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009 for its excellent performance in the areas of service, safety and co-operation.

Aviapartner received the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) registration for:

  • Amsterdam (December 2008)
  • Frankfurt (July 2009)
  • Düsseldorf (September 2009)
  • Munich (October 2009)
  • Brussels (October 2009)
  • Milan-Malpensa (November 2009)
  • Nice (November 2009)
  • Lyon (December 2009)
  • Turin (May 2010)
  • Venice (June 2010)
  • Rotterdam (May 2011)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Aviapartner krijgt nieuwe topman". De Tijd (in Dutch). 14 June 2016.
  2. ^ "Aviapartner Became Leader in Airport Ground Services in Spain". www.businesswire.com. 2023-10-10. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  3. ^ "Amsterdam Airport To Fast-Track the Use of Baggage Robots After Successful Pilot Project". Aviation Pros. 2023-08-03. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  4. ^ "Aviapartner houdt 24-urenstaking op Zaventem wegens verlies licenties". Het Belang van Limburg (in Dutch). 8 June 2011.
  5. ^ "Aviapartner fuseert met de Franse tegenhanger WFS". DeRedactie.be (in Dutch). 19 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Fusie Aviapartner en WFS mislukt". De Morgen (in Dutch). 10 August 2013.

External links[edit]

Media related to Aviapartner at Wikimedia Commons

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