[QUOTE=Rutan16;11452729]Quote
In the case of Manchester Airport ground handling has been done by contractors for about as long as I can remember, with BEA/ Briitish Airways and Serviceair through the sixties , seventies and Menzies, DNATA, DHL, SWISSPORT and even self handlers such as Jet2 today.
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Ground handling as such was carried out by the airport itself (as was the catering loading) until into the 90s.
Handling agents were limited to check in/dispatch etc.
Alpha provided the catering but airport staff drove the trucks, collected it and delivered to/loaded it onto aircraft.
All freight/baggage handling/airbridge driving was carried out solely by the airport in house handling.
Pushback were generally done by engineers, such as Dan Air.
Following the industrial dispute the airlines affected started efforts to get that changed and were successful.
That resulted in the formation of Ringway Handling in August 1991 from the in house baggage section) which became a stand alone subsidiary of MA Plc at the same time as ramp handling was opened up to the Handling agents.