Aviator financial difficulties
 

sad news coming from ex collegues that Aviator have announced they are in financial difficulty. I took my redundancy at the start of the year and to be honest things were not looking that bad then and they were coping ok.

anyone know what has happened since?

Sounds like they've over stretched themselves and agreed to take on contracts at silly prices in order to gain market share.

Gatwick airport have been paying aviator staff for a few months now. Never a good sign

SR - I had heard this rumour about GAL paying wages to avoid another "Swissport situation" of a couple of summers ago, and that this was just designed to get the airport through the summer holiday period.
I was surprised, if it is true, that this was legally allowed, and that the other handlers at LGW would not be shouting "foul".
I have also heard that Swissport may be returning to LGW.

It may be just a coincidence that Airline Services senior management visited BHX last week

Has this been confirmed/by whom?

Sad news for Aviator staff. The days of handling being a secure job are long gone.

Aviator are to leave the UK by the end of November

Reported on another forum that PWC are to assume temporary management control of the U.K division.
Could the remaining handling agents absorb that much work at short notice. Me thinks not.

OMG !!! Wow LGW needs another agent to at least take in some of that work! Can't see Dnata playing the 'Undercut everyone for market share gains' game that's for sure!

Didn't you say that Aviator were finacially secure for at least the next year?

Friends at BHX tell me that Airlines services and Dnata are bidding for the workload. So majority of staff will tupe transfer.

Tupe transfer only comes into force after 2 years, and Aviator haven't been at Man for 2 years

Menzies are going for the DY and SK contract plus they will have obtained all the ASIG contracts which is soon to include TK and SN due to WFS leaving MAN

From what I can gather same at BHX. Not only top heavy but also very weak management in place locally.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/business/job-loss-fears-one-countrys-8993647

LGW is a money pit for ground handling companies. Watched swissport struggling there and now Aviator.
Aviator seem quite happy to save their 'Nordic Region' and dump the UK, which I'm less than impressed with. Looks like I'll be losing my job at the end of November. I don't even work at LGW but it keeps being a strain on other stations.
The only info we've got is that they are pulling out of the UK at the end of November.

Looks like Airline Services taking over at BHX. At least it saves jobs.

T250
There were 2 parts to Aviator`s history at LGW.
1. They took over Servisair`s LGW business following SP take over of SA under competition rules, about 2-3 years ago.
2. They took BA from SP this time last year, and SP decided to close at LGW.

I agree, it is not clear what is happening to the Company, there was some suggestion of a large firm of accountants running it down, but they did not exactly say it was going into administration.

Wonderful
 

When I heard about this it made my day......

Hi everyone.
If Aviator were to end all UK ops would a replacement handling company have to be operational at their bases before they could go? Im just thinking of smaller airports where aviator may be one of only two ground handling companies.

It made my day also as finally they might get rid of the weak management in place and also the 'clicks'

at the same time a bit sad for my ex colleagues who still work there and have been threw this many times.

Does anyone know who is taking over the aviator contract at newcastle and when??

I can count on my left hand the amount of people I meet at the Aviator I would call decent people. The rest were self centered who were only ever out for them self's.

Thank you for your kind words tickerdboo. There are around 1700 employees at Aviator in the UK and many of us are facing the very real prospect of losing our jobs just before Christmas, and through no fault of our own. Ultimately the decision to buy Swissport at Gatwick was a poor one, and now the UK staff are paying a very heavy price. I have almost 20 years service at Aviator (formerly Servisair) and the vast majority of my colleagues are decent, hardworking people who love working in Aviation. At a time like this we need solidarity and support not vitriol and abuse. I don't deserve to lose my job like this, and nor do my friends and colleagues. Please think before you post.

I worked for Groundstar then Swissport until 2014. I left as I didn't agree with how things were being run by the management. I'm absolutely dumbstruck with what's happening, even more so as I learn that Swissport international are making a comeback to LGW.. their handling license was never revoked. They couldn't make the necessary savings in order to build a more profitable LGW.. so they sold out to aviator who up until then was a profitable company.. the people who were responsible for this have long sailed away to the deserts of Abu Dhabi , Dubai, some have even gone to work for Gatwick airport themselves.. all I feel is those of my friends and former colleagues who until this day carry out their job to the best of their abilities despite the difficult circumstances that may arise soon. Crazy to think that no criminal proceedings can be bought against those responsible, all the best to everyone there.

I wish the Aviator staff all the very best of luck going forward.

I'm not looking forward to December! There is so little time to reorganise the airline contracts and staffing of handling agents. I think this Christmas may be a little messy. :hmm: Even if there is no weather disruption.

Whats the latest from BHX? Have staff now been selected for redundancy?

It will be every manager for them self's. ....funny how certain people who showed no interest in dispatching or learning how to do airbridges are all of a sudden selling them self's as a team player.......staff of Aviator why are you putting up with this..?

Consultation for both TUPE and potential redundancies started on 14th October.


Many staff still not on a TUPE list. Communication from above has been very poor. Unfortunately it seems to be every man for himself at the moment, and many smaller airlines have yet to find an alternative ground handler.

T250

If you look at reply #10, it looks as if PWC have been in as quasi-administrators (and no doubt earning a tidy fee) and at the end of the month the staff and creditors are going to get shafted. Or am I missing something?

From the sounds of it sounds like any wages/redundancies etc due after 28th November will not be getting paid as the insolvency process takes a few days and once activated all payments go onto hold.

Aviator on track to end uk ops by end of November with the exception of Manchester which they will continue to operate. Does anyone know whats so profitable about Manchester?

And who is taking their place in BHX and NCL?

Think Man only handles like 3 airlines?

Only commenting on what was written on the aviator website! Hope those involved find jobs with other handlers

Id love to know if you find out

Only two handling agents at NCL -Swissport and Aviator. Swissport have signed up all but one of Aviator's contracts at NCL (except BA- talks ongoing) BMI-FlyBe-EasyJet all transferred! Swissport will have the monopoly if they sign BA ! They (Swissport)were prevented from taking over Servisair at NCL last year because they would have the monopoly which was supposedly not allowed! Funny how the company is closing down and Swissport are suddenly allowed to basically have the monopoly once BA have signed as no other handling agent has replaced them!

I wonder if swissport have been allowed to take over the ncl handling contracts on an emergency short term basis? Could other handling agents bid for the contracts with airlines, if swissport are made to break up their apparent monopoly?