Reunitus, provider of software and services for handling lost and delayed items, today announces support for Apple’s Share Item Location feature.

This advancement cements Reunitus’ position as the premier provider of cutting-edge baggage tracing, compliance and analytics solutions.

Launching in January 2025, this new feature empowers passengers to securely share live tracking data with airlines and other travel entities through Apple’s Find My app and AirTags.

By creating a secure, time-limited link, travellers can provide participating airlines, airports, hotels and resorts with precise location updates for delayed luggage or lost items.

The location data refreshes automatically and is designed with privacy at its core, expiring after seven days or upon retrieval.

Byron Smith, chief technology officer at Reunitus said: “This integration with the Apple Share Item Location feature exemplifies our commitment to innovation and customer-centric solutions.

“By streamlining baggage tracking and enabling seamless collaboration between travellers and airlines, we’re setting a new standard for efficiency and reliability in the industry.”

The company’s support for this feature also extends to its Lost & Found platform, used by airlines, airports and hospitality providers worldwide.

By incorporating support for the Share Item Location feature, Reunitus enhances its ability to track and recover lost items efficiently, further elevating the experience for both providers and customers.

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Menzies Aviation has secured a new ground handling license to deliver passenger, ramp and cargo services at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL), the main international airport serving Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

Menzies Aviation Malaysia – a joint venture (JV) with Malaysian supply chain management company, MMAG Holdings – will begin delivering ground handling services at the airport from January under the 12-month license.

Private aviation company MJets will be Menzies Aviation’s first customer at the airport, with services set to begin in January 2025, serving more than 30 flights per week.

In 2023, it managed 47.2 million passengers, 980,040 tonnes of cargo and 819,026 aircraft movements, ranking as the 35th-busiest airport by total passenger traffic.

This marks the first time that Menzies Aviation has operated in Malaysia, representing a significant increase in the company’s footprint across South East Asia.

Philipp Joeinig, group CEO, Menzies Aviation, said: “We’re very excited to begin operations at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, a key hub serving Malaysia’s capital.

“Menzies Aviation Malaysia will quickly become a key part of operations at the airport, serving more than 30 flights a week by early 2025.

“This underscores Menzies’ determination to increase our presence across South East Asia while delivering aviation services that meet the very highest quality and safety standards.”

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With the Christmas season just around the corner, Swissport International is ramping up preparations to ensure smooth operations at nearly 300 airports worldwide during the winter peak season.

Frank Dobbelsteijn, Swissport’s global head of operations, shares an insider’s look at how the company is getting ready for the holiday rush.

Frank, Christmas Eve is less than seven weeks away. Can you tell us how Swissport is preparing for the upcoming peak season?

During quieter periods like this, we ensure our teams are up-to-date with their training, so they’re ready for the holiday demands. At the same time, we conduct thorough inspections and maintenance on our ground support equipment (GSE) to ensure everything operates seamlessly.

These preparations are essential for delivering the high level of service our airline customers expect, especially when passenger volumes surge. And just to add: The aviation industry sees multiple peaks throughout the year —starting with Easter, then summer holidays in the northern hemisphere, Thanksgiving, Diwali, Chinese New Year, and of course, Christmas.

What defines a peak period?

It is all about volume — more flights, more passengers, and more baggage to handle. This increases the risk of delays and disruptions, as airports and airspaces become more congested than usual.

During peak times, we operate at full capacity — with all counters staffed, equipment fully in use, and staff numbers up to 30 per cent higher than during regular travel periods. But peak times are also exciting, as we interact with so many people, and the time at work just flies by!

How do you collaborate with airline customers and airport partners in preparation for these peak periods?

Providing stable and reliable operations for our airline customers and their passengers is always a team effort. It starts with effective communication across the board — with airports, airlines, and other ground handlers — to proactively address potential challenges. By sharing information early and in real-time, we can coordinate better and avoid bottlenecks – even long before they occur.

We call this Airport Collaborative Decision Making. For example, if we anticipate delays in security checks, we can make necessary adjustments in advance.

We also work very closely with each airline reviewing peak season schedules in detail. This helps us determine the personnel, equipment, and resources needed for each flight. By basing our plans on the latest data, we align everyone toward smooth travel experiences.

So is peak preparedness all about data?

The role of data is enormous, and its relevance will increase significantly. Swissport is introducing real-time data tools powered by AI to maximize access to up-to-the-minute insights, enabling us to predict and respond to peak demands with unprecedented accuracy.

This approach allows us to proactively allocate resources and streamline operations, ensuring smooth service even during the busiest seasons. However, while data plays a leading role, the future of peak preparedness will be a blend of advanced technology and hands-on support from our colleagues.

Given the unpredictability of winter weather, how does Swissport adapt its operations to handle these additional challenges?

Winter does add a layer of complexity. We are prepared for everything from snow to freezing temperatures, which can impact equipment and sometimes require changes to staff deployment.

We have clear processes in place to respond quickly to weather-related issues, including contingency plans for unexpected situations. We also anticipate a higher risk of illness among staff in winter, so we build in more backup than usual before Christmas to ensure coverage.

Speaking of staffing, how do you manage your team’s schedules to handle the increased volume during the holidays?

It’s an intense period, and we plan our team deployment based on the most current data. Schedules are continually adjusted to match flight volume and timing as closely as possible.

If necessary, we also adapt our processes to ensure we have enough staff on hand to keep operations running smoothly.

Swissport’s management team is also more hands-on during the holiday rush. How does this support operations?

During these high-demand times, management takes a much more active role, on the ground right alongside our teams. Their hands-on support boosts morale and allows for quick decision-making if challenges arise.

It ensures we deliver the best possible experience for our customers by addressing any operational needs in real time. So, don’t be surprised to see top managers rolling up their sleeves alongside our teams when all hands are needed.

This article is a republished Q&A via Swissport. 

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dnata, the global air and travel services provider, reported robust growth across its business divisions during the first half of the 2024-25 fiscal year, driven by contract wins, expansion, and sustainability initiatives.

The company’s revenue, including operating income, reached AED 10.4 billion (US$ 2.8 billion), marking an 11% increase from the same period last year, although profit before tax fell slightly by 5% to AED 720 million (US$ 196 million) due to a one-time impairment charge.

Key to dnata’s success this period was its airport operations segment, which brought in AED 4.8 billion (US$ 1.3 billion), a 15% increase.

dnata handled 391,365 aircraft turns, up 2%, and processed 1.5 million tonnes of cargo, a significant 18% increase in response to growing air cargo demand.

This segment benefited from growth in key markets, including Australia, Singapore, the UAE, and the UK.

In line with its expansion goals, dnata commenced ground handling operations at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in the USA, and secured new ground support equipment valued at US$ 210 million.

Additionally, dnata’s Zurich operations are set for a 50% boost in cargo handling capacity with new warehouse space.

Sustainability remained a focus, with dnata transitioning its UAE fleet of non-electric airside vehicles to biodiesel and introducing more electric GSEs in Brazil and the UAE.

dnata’s flight catering and retail division also saw an 8% revenue boost to AED 3.7 billion (US$ 1 billion), despite a 5% decline in total meals uplifted.

Increased demand in Australia and the UK and adjusted contracts in response to rising supply costs contributed to this growth.

dnata’s travel division experienced the highest revenue growth, up 23% to AED 1.8 billion (US$ 483 million), backed by strong sales in its Imagine Cruising, Destination Asia, and Middle East Corporate Travel businesses.

Total Transactional Value (TTV) sales reached AED 4.5 billion (US$ 1.2 billion), rising from AED 4.1 billion (US$ 1.1 billion) last year.

dnata’s EBITDA of AED 1.3 billion (US$ 354 million) rose by 16%, illustrating the underlying operational strength across its diversified portfolio as the company continued to serve a growing airline customer base with high safety and quality standards.

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Çelebi India will provide ground handling support for Thai AirAsia’s operations at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

The partnership comes as Thai AirAsia expands its footprint in India by launching four direct weekly flights connecting Hyderabad with Bangkok.

Tauseef Khan, CEO of Çelebi Ground Handling – India, said: “Çelebi’s collaboration with Thai AirAsia at Hyderabad represents a significant step forward in our mission to expand our services across key airports in India.

“Passenger traffic between India and Thailand has increased significantly in recent months, especially with factors like visa-free entry scheme extended by Thailand.

“The countries have agreed to add up to 7,000 extra flight seats per week for flights between their major cities, starting in November 2024 which is going to make efficient, reliable and scalable ground-handling service imperative.

“The partnership with Thai AirAsia will help in us cater to this growing need and enhance the travel experience for their passengers.”

Thai AirAsia spokesperson Witchunee Kuntapeng added: “We are delighted to partner with Çelebi India as our ground handling service provider in Hyderabad.

“With Çelebi’s reputation for operational excellence and reliability, we are confident in providing our passengers with a seamless experience as we launch our new direct flights connecting Bangkok to Hyderabad.

“This collaboration marks a significant milestone in our commitment to expand our footprint in India, where we see a tremendous potential for growth.

“Hyderabad is an important destination for us, and we look forward to welcoming more travellers on this route as we continue to strengthen connectivity between India and Thailand.”

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Aviator Airport Alliance, a full-range provider of aviation services at 15 airports across the Nordics and a family member of Avia Solutions Group, today announced the planned merger of two of its subsidiaries, Aviator Airport Partner ApS (AAP) and Copenhagen Flight Services ApS (CFS).

Effective March 1, 2025, the two companies will come together under a single entity at Copenhagen Airport.

This consolidation has the full support of both Aviator’s local and group management teams and is designed to bolster the company’s strength in Copenhagen while ensuring stability for employees and continuity for customers.

Jo Alex Tanem, CEO of Aviator Airport Alliance, emphasized that this merger is largely a formal step, as AAP and CFS already collaborate across various operational levels. “We are bringing together two teams who are already familiar with each other’s processes and work culture.

“By uniting as a single entity, we are not only simplifying our organizational structure but also enhancing our capabilities.

“Our combined skillset positions us even more strongly to meet the evolving demands of the aviation industry, benefiting our employees and valued customers alike.”

For partners and clients, there will be no significant operational changes.

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The Airport Services Association (ASA) today announced the launch of a brand new livery, motto and website at the 2024 ASA Leadership Forum.

The trade body has rebranded to ASA World to reflect its representation of ground service providers globally.

Mercedes Dieguez Alvarez, of ASA World, told delegates in Istanbul this afternoon: “This is a great moment for the association – the transformation to our new identity.

“You may have seen that from time to time we are using different names for our organisation – Airport or Aviation Services Association.

“This is because we knew a rebrand was coming, but we wanted it to reflect that we have more than just ground handler members but other services as well.

“We wanted to show that our association was not representing only handlers.”

As part of the rebrand, the newly-named ASA World has unveiled a new website – www.asaworld.aero – alongside a new slogan: Championing Aviation Services Worldwide.

The ASA Leadership Forum 2024 was held as part of the Aviation Connect conference in Istanbul, Turkey.

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17:08 – Close of play 

The conference has closed for today. Now time for networking drinks!

16:54 – The winners! 

Personality of the Year – Trond-Jarle Lund, Aviator

GSE Provider of the Year – Vestergaard Company

Special Award for Enhanced GSE – Qatar Aviation Services (QAS)

Cargo Handler(s) of the Year – Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) and dnata

Ground Handler of the Year – Talma

16:49 – ASA Awards 

The panel has now come to a close. Time now for the ASA awards!

Atilla Korkmazoglu, president of ground handling and cargo for the EMEA region at Celebi, has received a warm welcome from ASA after stepping down as association chairman in July earlier this year.

“Thank you very much,” he tells delegates as he leaves the stage.

The ASA Excellence Awards Ceremony 2024 is now fully underway.

15:47 – Panel 

Patel has left the stage and the event’s first panel discussion has got underway. Moderated by ACHL chair Henrik Ambak, Kester Meijer, of KLM, Kai Domschet, of Cargo Handling International, Serkan Eren, of MNG Airlines, Brendan Sullivan, of IATA, and Dawit Woubishet now occupy the stage.

Collaboration is the panel’s first topic… “Collaboration is about us – the senior leaders at this conference,” says Meijer.

“There are areas of our industry where collaboration is going really well… but there are some areas that we’re not so good at,” Sullivan tells delegates.

For air cargo, he says, end to end visibility is still poor – and regulations are also posing their own challenges for stakeholders, he adds.

Ambak asks: “Are we good enough at collaboration?”

15:40 – Looking ahead 

Patel says OAG’s top five predictions for the industry in 2025 are prolonged recovery for the APAC region, travel demand waning globally, supply and skills shortage, ‘soft’ political environment and softened profitability.

15:25 – Did you know?

Did you know that, according to Patel, seven of the 10 busiest routes globally are in Southeast Asia, followed by two in the Middle East and the transatlantic route between the UK and US?

15:13 – ‘State of the industry’ address

Mayur Patel, regional director for the Asia-Pacific region at OAG, steps up to the stage to present the event’s ‘state of the industry’ address.

Airlines are reporting strong financials, despite global spare parts issues and delivery delays at Boeing and Airbus, he points out.

Nevertheless, air travel demand is “normalising”.

15:10 – Next-gen GSE

“People have said for the last few years there is a lack of innovation in GSE. Now, we have autonomy and sustainability,” Robert Powell, dnata’s vice president of technical services and chair of the GSE & Ramp-Ops conference, says.

“But we have more work to improve diversity in our industry.”

15:06

Stavros Evangelakakis, board member of the Cool Chain Association and chair of the Airfreight Pharma conference, takes his turn at the podium. He says: “Teams calls are very nice, but face-to-face is much better.” He tells the audience he is looking forward to the conference.

15:00

“While we’re talking about longevity, ULD Care is the longstanding trade association at Aviation Connect,” says Bob Rogers, vice president of ULD Care. “We go back to the 1970s.”

Stakeholders needs to “break down silos” for a better industry. But ULD Care will also focus on sustainability this week in Turkey, he states.

14:56

“It’s going to be about collaboration.” ACHL chair Henrik Ambak, addressing delegates, joins Gamba in calling for greater stakeholder collaboration.

14:53 – Standards 

ASA director general Fabio Gamba reaffirms the association’s commitment to covering standards over the next three days in Istanbul. He says standardisation is vital for industry collaboration.

14:45 

Fabio Gamba, of ASA, Henrik Ambak, of ACHL, Stavros Evangelakakis, of the CCA, Bob Rogers, of ULD Care, Robert Powell of dnata, and Stephan Pieters, of RFS, join the stage for their introductory speeches.

14:39 – Welcome! 

Mark Pilling, master of ceremonies, opens the 2024 ASA Leadership Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.

“There’s over 750 delegates here, of which more than 200 are airlines and 60 are exhibitors,” he tells delegates.

Trivial knowledge: Mark is editor of Airline Routes & Ground Services!

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Zimbabwean ground services provider National Handling Services (NHS) has suspended three officials over allegations of corruption, incompetence and failing on corporate governance.

CEO Godknows Maravanyika, chief financial officer Question Maisera and head of human resources Shamiso Nyangairi are facing accusations of fraud and misappropriation, the Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald reports.

It is alleged that NHS has lost millions of dollars owing to mismanagement at top management level.

Board chair Godwin Nyengedza has confirmed that the executives have been asked to step down temporarily.

He said: “The board asked certain members of the executive team to go on leave with full benefits.

“This is a live matter and I can’t comment much more at this stage. If there is an update, we will communicate it to the public.”

Maravanyika has denied any wrongdoing, stating that he and his colleagues were given no concrete reasons for being suspended.

“We were just told not to report for duty. No valid reasons were provided,” the CEO said.

National Handling Services is a wholly owned ground services provider of the Zimbabwean government.

The company provides ground, passenger and cargo handling, ramp services and owns a network a VIP airport lounges.

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Aviator Airport Alliance, a full-range provider of aviation services at 15 airports across the Nordics and a family member of Avia Solutions Group, has earned three key International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications in the areas of Quality, Environmental, and Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.

Aviator was the solely responsible for the work done to earn these certifications, and there was no use of consultants or outside assistance to become compliant with ISO standards.

The certifications come after audits, reviews and inspections performed by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), a Norwegian world leading classification society, at multiple stations in Aviator’s service network.

Ola M Bakk, head of safety at aviator, said: “This certification is a testament to our ability to provide ground support and improve on-time performance and is the result of a team effort and collaboration.

“I am proud of the many individuals who worked hard over the past few months, as well as our teams at airports across our network, who made the inspections and audit successful for the certification process.”

The certifications earned include ISO 9001 for Quality, 14001 for Environmental and 45001 for Occupational health and safety management systems.

Aviator said that it picked these certifications to pursue because of their synergy with the ground-handlers and internationally recognized standards, as well as their strategic importance to the company’s operations.

Bakk said: “These certifications reflect our priorities for aviation Safety, efficiency, and quality control in the support of airline operations.

“The certifications are an important achievement for our business, as the number of people involved in these audits demonstrates that our priorities are embedded in our company’s culture, and this will enable us to grow.”

Three audits were performed at Aviator’s head office at Arlanda and included two station audits at Stockholm Arlanda (ARN) and Bergen Flesland (BGO) airports.

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