4th Ground Handling Company at LGW
 

We have got BA, Servisair and Aviance.... anyone got any ideas who the 4th is going to be? As British Midland Handling Services is now part of Aviance, we are all looking for something new.... but what is it going to be? Any ideas anyone?.....................

A couple of rumours on that one. The one more likely is that Swissport could be coming in.

The other one is that BMI handling could be demerged,sold and they become the forth handler again. Reasoning behind this is that Aviance are more than likely to lose contracts eg VS and MON this way they get some money back.

Word on the street is that both Servisair & Aviance's masters, Penuille & Go Ahead, are
looking very closely at their offspring. Seems they're both a bit disillusioned with the ground
handling market right now. Swissport seem to be retrenching after bidding for, but failing to
complete, Novia. Reckon it could get interesting in the next few months!

Confirmed Must Ride,
Me thinks you're barking up the wrong tree. FYI bmi signed a 5 year deal with aviance nationwide, and are more than happy as are Virgin and Monarch i believe.
Think we'll find our German freinds are knocking on Gatwicks' door as the Servisair/GlobeGround 'merger' is stalling.
Apparently ;)

One must wonder WHY a 4th Handler - history will repeat itself - OGDEN/BMH etc. - prices and quality south AGAIN - rumour has it that Swissport and GroundStar are the ones to bet on - Hope it is Swissport - at least they will not buy the business - GroundStar WELL does not MAN and STN speak in spades for them!!
It is about time that we airlines stop screwing the poor old handling agent and start paying for quality that we all demand but are not prepared to pay for.
As Handling accounts for than less that 3% of our total DOC's shoud we not give them a break and go after the 97% (yes, including our pay) and thus demand and pay (sic.) for a Quality Service. This will allow these "bottom of the food chain" (yes ,caterers as well) to eek out their just desserts (excuse the pun) and benefit aviation as a whole (re-investment etc.).
Comments expected and welcome????:mad: :rolleyes:

Silkman, MON are always changing handlers and VS are not happy with the way they are being handled as per the trenches.

I agree not a real need for a forth handler as contracts are not as plentiful as they used to. As soon as someone else does come in another handler loses contracts, loses money and then is ripe for a takeover. Voila back to square one

Ex Nav,

Well said. The circle doesn't close at the moment, infact it's more like a downward spiral. Most of
the old monopolies are broken now in Europe but the airlines are, at times, guilty of trying to
continue driving down prices while expecting the
same, if not improved service. It's not only service that suffers, safety standards will drop
as training is always one of the budgets to get cut when the going gets tough. As I said in my
earlier post, watch this space, the next couple of
months/years are going to interesting!

Oh, & in case anybody is wondering, I buy in handling services, know what it costs to handle an
aircraft & expect the HA to make a little bit for themselves otherwise they go out of business & I
have to go through the whole bidding process again! 'Taint rocket science.

My bet would be with Groundstar. If Groundstar came into LGW, they would probably be chasing the likes of Monarch, who they handle in BHX (& NCL??), and maybe Air 2000, who they handle already in NCL & BHX.

It's GroundStar
 

Believe GroundStar got the licence. Ho Hum:o
Bet MON and VS go with the low prices, maybe FlyBE as well?? - BUT for how long - History repeating itself:mad: :eek:

...rumour mill says lots of people/staff/airlines very unhappy with one of the existing handling agents.

...poor customer service, unacceptable baggage delays, rude and unhelpful staff...

Perhaps there will only be 3 handling agents after all...

Ummmmmm!!!!
 

Groundstar claim they have 5 licences to operate at UK airports whcih they are not currently using. These guys are backed by 3i and have undergone a total management re-structure over the past six months. (Now have many ex Servisair Management)

If any Ground Handler is aggressive in the market place at the moment it is these guys !

Is it true that EXCEL and MYTRAVEL have given Servisair 90 days notice?

are u swissport did not get it