Lite..........
 

Some movers and chnages:

Swissport - Now have Flybe (01st April) and Air Malta (01st May)
Aviance - Have City Airline and Helios from Servisair
Servisair - No new work, but lost Germanwings, reduced Aer Arran, lost City Airline, and Air Malta + CSA pulled out.
Aviation Support UK - Have Sky Europe and Hapag Lloyd Express + United European Airways some A300 outfit from Romania starting in June.

What "mess" was that ?:confused: :confused:

They operated the route only once a fortnight, which meant they were unable to increase loads to make the route a success

I ask as I might be moving from the East Midlands to the West Midlands (a huge jump I know :\) sometime over the next twelve months, and whilst a lot can happen in 12 months, I do like to be kept up-to-date with all that's going on in the handling agent world. Which company do you all think is best at BHX workwise? Strengths? Weaknesses? Any info is appreciated, as I know little about the BHX scene.

Signature;)

BA Connect @BHX
 

BA Connect will be adding 2 new routes at BHX this winter. GVA and TXL are doing very well BHD is below expectations particularly the am ARJ but the other 3 services are faring well
Daza

Handling Agents
 

As a passenger my opinion is that there is not much to choose between BA, Aviance and Swissport. One of my friends is Duty Officer at Swissport and seems reasonably happy. He moved from Servisair and I think the
best way of describing it would be to say it was a good move.

Servisair in the past seemed to struggle with staff numbers, I do not
know if it has got any better since they lost Pakistan, Air Malta, City
Airline, Swiss, Transat & CSA/Germanwings ceased.

Saying all that they still have CO, EK EI & AI, which is not a bad set
of airlines to handle.

The last flight I went on was EI and Servisair had two check-in agents for 160 pax but they did come and pick out the "hand luggage only" brigade and checked them in at the ticket desk (me included), which was good.
Why there were only two I do not know. I would have thought that EI would require more but in these cost-conscious times you never know.


OltonPete

We're handled at BHX by aviance who've been doing an excellent job by all accounts.

I would say that aviance are ripping you off terribly with the de icing. Iv'e seen them de-ice the whole 737(wings,stab,tail and fuselage) when theres been just frost,also de-icing when not necessary with no other airlines de-icing.It must be costing baby a fortune with the 5 A/C at bhx. :ouch:

Handling Agents
 

Swissport have now lost the contract for BritishJET, who will now be handled by Aviance. Rumour has it that Thomas Cook's contract is up for nenewal too. Adria Airways and BHAir have only signed 1 year contracts with Servisair and plan to go to Aviation Support for next summer. It's all swap and change at the handling agents!

The planned Aer Arann Leige- Birmingham has been pulled apparently. 3 flights a week was a bit of a silly schedule anyhow

FC

I wouldn't have thought that Aviance had the authority to decide whether or not to de-ice without consultation. That decision would be made by either the Capt or ground engineer.

That's true - but airlines within the bmi group have the first round of de-icing decided by bmi OPS on receipt of the Met Office weather/icing forecast the night before; therefore, on slot 1 flights, the Captain can only decide to request another de-icing procedure, in case of heavy snowfall/freezing precipitation, ATC slot or tech delay.

The handling agent does NOT decide whether or not to de-ice; it's actually one of the first questions the dispatchers ASK the flight crew during a turnaround.

Incidentally, de-icing is NEVER a rip-off; would you prefer to take-off in icing conditions without de-icing? Remember that different aircraft might have different de-icing/anti-icing systems, the operating airlines might use a different set of weather parameters to define icing conditions, etc.

The CAA has a very good mantra on the subject: "if in doubt, don't think twice, de-ice". :ok:

Cheers :cool:

Someone is therefore costing baby a fortune with de-icing,when they get de-iced early morning you very rarely see crew/eng on the A/C because its not yet powered up.They get de-iced anyway even if the weather changes overnight so that de-icing is not even needed.Iv'e cancelled de-icing in the past on our A/c and still see babys boeings getting a complete de-ice (wings,tail,fuselage).Now you tell me thats not wasting a lot of money.
Why de-ice the fuselage when there is light frost? Wings,tail yes but fuselage??

Its not just Aviance that are doing it Airline Services are at it too. Their idea of a quick spray on the wings is to make sure anyone walking around the aircraft needs diving gear:uhoh: They also spray the fuselage when there is no reason and I've lost count of the number of times you can't even look through the windscreens because there is so much fluid on them:*

Hardly a fair exchange, one MD90 a week for hundreds of flybe's:ok:

Did flybe move handling agents for a specific problem they had with aviance or was this simply a pricing issue with Swissport being cheaper?

I think maybe they just wanted the same handling agent in most of their UK stations. They're handled by Swissport at NCL, MAN and soon to be LGW I believe.

Not sure if this is the case. Aviance lost the contract at BHX but are still used at SOU and BHD (yes i know they are the only ones at these bases). Servisair are used at LGW, GLA, EDI, BRS, LBA and JER though. I imagine that it comes down with who puts the best offer on the table at the time. Remember that Flybe are moving to on-line check-in and i'm sure this would have had a direct impact on negotiations. Give it a couple years and there will be no check-in required.

Hearing possible rumours that Aviance are going to be brought by Menzies ????? Anyone have anynews on this, I Menzies are in NEMA and have cargo shed at BHX. They have always wanted to get into BHX.