Swissport start at Rome-Fiumicino

 

In the first five days since starting operations on Thursday, 14 July, Swissport has already served some 67,474 passengers and handled roughly 501 flights for various carriers at Fiumicino airport in Rome, Italy. After being awarded the ground handling business of Alitalia – Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A. in extraordinary administration – at Fiumicino Airport in May 2022, Swissport successfully concluded consultations with trade unions on 4 July. In Rome, Swissport will support ITA Airways and other airlines with safe, cutting-edge and efficient services. 

 

"At Swissport, we are honored to be serving ITA Airways at their home base in Rome," says Warwick Brady, President & CEO of Swissport International AG. "Our market entry in Italy is of strategic importance to us in Europe and delivers on our ambitious global growth and acquisition plan. Serving the home carrier at Fiumicino gives us the local market lead and solidifies Swissport's position as the go-to airline partner for complex hub and large base operations, globally. In Italy, we plan to expand to Linate and other airports across the country." 

 

With demand for air travel rebounding post COVID-19, more and more airlines are refocusing on their core-competencies of safe and reliable flight operations, schedule quality, marketing and digital distribution. Many turn to Swissport as their preferred partner for ground services, increasingly outsourcing even complex hub and home base operations. At Rome-Fiumicino, airlines can choose from a broad service offering and procure any combination of services, including passenger services, lounge hospitality, ramp handling and cargo transport. 

 

Country teams at Swissport are part of a global pool of Swissport aviation professionals who benefit from the company's central governance and a standardized training curriculum. This enables the business to swiftly and reliably start up at any new airport or to take over airport service providers with no disruption to operations. 

 

“After constructive consultations with trade unions, we are delighted to welcome 1,608 former Alitalia employees to the Italian Swissport team,” says Marina Bottelli, Swissport’s General Manager Italy. “We are excited to be serving ITA Airways, the Italian national airline, and other customer airlines with safe, cutting-edge and efficient ground services from day one and are well prepared for the busy summer holiday season.” 

 

 

With Rome-Fiumicino, Swissport adds a top European business and leisure hub to its growing network of airports and continues its rapid global expansion. The market leader in aviation ground services, based in Zurich, Switzerland, provides some 850 airlines on six continents with a full suite of airport ground services and air cargo handling. For many years, Swissport has been providing hub operations for leading airlines. Examples are Swiss International Air Lines in Zurich (Switzerland) since 2001, Lufthansa in Munich (Germany), Qantas in Sydney and Melbourne (Australia) and Azul at Viracopos (Brazil). Ryanair and easyJet rely on us at several large bases. 

In 2021, Swissport International AG provided best-in-class airport ground services for some 97 million airline passengers (pre-COVID 2019: 265 million) and handled roughly 5.1 million tons of air freight (2019: 4.6 million) at over 120 air cargo centers worldwide. Several of its air cargo centers have been certified for pharmaceutical logistics by IATA’s CEIV Pharma and by the British MHRA. The world's leader in airport ground services and air cargo handling, with currently around 47,000 employees, was active at 287 airports in 45 countries on six continents as of 14 July 2022. 

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