Aircraft ground handling

In aviation, aircraft ground handling defines the servicing of an aircraft while it is on the ground and (usually) parked at a terminal gate of an airport.

Aircraft ground handling of a Lufthansa Airbus A380 at Frankfurt Airport in Germany.

Overview
Icelandair Boeing 757 being serviced by another airline; SAS at Gardermoen Airport
A ground-handling tug pulls a British Airways Boeing 747-400 at Heathrow Airport, England
Airbus A380-800 operated by Qatar Airways on apron outside Heathrow Terminal 4 with a wide range of ground handling equipments around such as aircraft container, pallet loader, ULD, jet air starter, belt loader, pushback tug, catering vehicles and dollies.

Many airlines subcontract ground handling to airports, handling agents or even to another airline. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), conservative estimates indicate airlines outsource more than 50 per cent of the ground handling that takes place at the world's airports.[1] Ground handling addresses the many service requirements of an airliner between the time it arrives at a terminal gate and the time it departs on its next flight. Speed, efficiency, and accuracy are important in ground handling services in order to minimize the turnaround time (the time during which the aircraft must remain parked at the gate).[2] Faster turnarounds for lower ground times are correlated to better profits.[3]

Airlines with less-frequent service or fewer resources at a particular location sometimes subcontract ground handling or on-call aircraft maintenance to another airline, as it is a short-term cheaper alternative to setting up its own ground handling or maintenance capabilities.

Catering-truck at Chania International Airport.
Credit: Marius Vassnes

Airlines may participate in an industry-standard Mutual Assistance Ground Service Agreement (MAGSA). The MAGSA is published by the Air Transport Association (the current version is from 1981) and is used by airlines to assess prices for maintenance and support to aircraft at so-called MAGSA Rates, which are updated annually based on changes in the U.S. Producer Price Index. Airlines may choose to contract for ground handling services under the terms of a Standard Ground Handling Agreement (SGHA) published in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Airport Handling Manual.[4] Airlines may also contract for ground handling services under non-standard terms.

Most ground services are not directly related to the actual flying of the aircraft, and instead involve other tasks. The major categories of ground handling services are described below.

Aircraft Appearance and Provisioning

Services related to aircraft cleanliness and passenger comfort:

  • Cabin Cleaning - Cleaning Seats, Galleys, and Lavatories. Resetting the cabin (Folding seatbelts, uniform seat and window shade position) to appear untouched.
  • Lavatory Service - Exterior service of lavatory by draining and filling of waste tanks.
  • Provisioning - Replacing literature, blankets, pillows, and consumable supplies.
  • Security Search - Searching aircraft for prohibited items as required by airline policy or regulatory requirement.
  • Water Service - Exterior service of aircraft water system by filling tank with potable water for use inflight.

Catering
Main article: Catering

Catering includes the unloading of unused food and drink from the aircraft, and the loading of fresh food and drink for passengers and crew. In flight airline meals are delivered at the seats in airline service trolleys. Empty or trash-filled trolley from the previous flight are replaced with fresh ones. Meals are prepared mostly on the ground in order to minimize the amount of preparation (apart from chilling or reheating) required in flight.

While some airlines provide their own catering, others have either owned catering companies in the past and divested themselves of the companies, or have outsourced their catering to third-party companies. Airline catering sources include the following companies:

Ramp service
Luggage being unloaded from a Northwest Airlines Boeing 757-200 at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
A British Airways aircraft being refueled
KLM Pushback tractor and a ground power unit
Lavatory drainage

This includes services on the ramp or apron, such as:

Passenger service
Business jet cleaning

This includes services inside the airport terminal such as:

  • Providing check-in counter services for the passengers departing on the customer airlines.
  • Providing gate arrival and departure services. The agents are required to meet a flight on arrival as well as provide departure services including boarding passengers and closing the flight.
  • Staffing the transfer counters, customer service counters and airline lounges.

Field operation service

This service dispatches the aircraft, maintains communication with the rest of the airline operation at the airport and with Air Traffic Control.

List of notable handling agents

Bangladesh

India
  • India Air India Airport Services Limited - All Indian Airports - presently providing services at 74 airports in India.
  • India Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited - Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Trivandrum, Mangalore, Cochin.
  • India LAS Ground Force Handling - Goa, Udaipur & Bagdogra
  • India Bhadra International India Pvt Ltd - Chennai
  • India Bird Worldwide Flight Services Pvt Ltd - Delhi, Mumbai & Kochi
  • India Livewel Aviation -Mumbai & Delhi
  • India Globe Ground India - Ahmadabad, Bangalore
  • India Indo Thai Airport Management Services Pvt Ltd - Amritsar, Lucknow & Mohali
  • India Agile Airport Services Pvt Ltd - presently providing services at 8 airports in India.

Hong Kong

Japan
  • Japan All Nippon Airways
  • Japan JAL Ground Service
  • Japan Japan Airport Ground Handling
  • Japan Japan Airport Service Co., Ltd.
  • Japan International Air Cargo Terminal Co., Ltd.

Korea
  • South Korea Korea Airport Service
  • South Korea Asiana Airport Service
  • South Korea DongBo Airport Service

Laos
  • Laos Andaman Aviation Services

Nepal

Pakistan

Singapore

Philippines

Taiwan

Thailand
  • Thailand Wingspan Services Co., Ltd.
  • Thailand BAGS Ground Services Co., Ltd.
  • Thailand Andaman Aviation Services
  • Thailand AOTGA AOT Ground Aviation Services Co., Ltd.

Barbados
  • Barbados Caribbean Aircraft Handling Co., Ltd.

Jamaica
  • Jamaica AJAS Aviation Services
  • Jamaica Eulen America
  • Jamaica GCG Ground Services Jamaica
  • Jamaica Jamaica Dispatch Services Ltd.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Caribbean Aviation Management, Inc.

Belgium

Cyprus
  • Cyprus LGS Handling
  • CTT Aviation Ltd.
  • Cyprus SWISSPORT

Denmark

Finland
  • Finland AIRPRO

France
  • France Groupe Europe Handling
  • France 3S Alyzia
  • France AviaPartner
  • France Ladybird Ground Services
  • France Samsic Assistance[6]
  • France Servair

Greece
  • Greece Goldair
  • Greece Skyserv

Ireland
  • Republic of Ireland Sky Handling Partner

Italy
  • Italy Airport Handling

Latvia
  • Latvia HAVAS Ground Handling Co.

Lithuania
  • Lithuania Baltic Ground Services
  • Lithuania Litcargus

Netherlands
  • Netherlands KLM groundhandling

Norway

Poland
  • Poland Baltic Ground Services
  • Poland LS Airport Services
  • Poland Welcome Airport Services

Portugal

Sweden

Switzerland

Turkey
  • Turkey Turkish Ground Services
  • Turkey HAVAS Ground Handling Co.
  • Turkey Celebi Ground Handling Inc.
  • Turkey FUGO Ground Handling Inc.

United Kingdom

Middle East
  • Egypt ASE – Egypt Member ASE Group
  • United Arab Emirates ASE – UAE Member Of ASE Group
  • Morocco SE – Morocco Member Of ASE Group
  • Egypt New Star Aviation Services
  • United Arab Emirates dnata (Also active in other countries)
  • Egypt Egypt Air Ground Services
  • Saudi Arabia Saudi Private Aviation-SPA
  • Saudi Arabia Saudia Cargo
  • Saudi Arabia Saudia Ground Services-SGS
  • Saudi Arabia HAVAS Ground Handling Co.
  • Oman Oman Air
  • Pakistan Shaheen Airport Services
  • Pakistan Royal Airport Services
  • Pakistan Gerry's dnata
  • Pakistan Airways Flight Support Services
  • Bahrain BAS (Bahrain Airport Services)
  • Qatar QAS (Qatar Aviation Services)
  • Israel El Al
  • Israel Laufer GHI
  • Israel QAS (Quality Airport Services)
  • Israel Aerohandling

Canada

Cuba

Mexico

United States
  • United States Alliance Ground International and Subsidiaries
  • Airport Terminal Services (ATS)
  • Total Airport Services (TAS)
  • WFS Express

Peru

Uruguay
  • Uruguay Candysur S.A.

Australia

See also

References
  1. International Air Transport Association, Ground Handling, International Air Transport Association, archived from the original on 5 October 2013
  2. Gomez, F; Scholz, D (2009), Improvements to ground handling operations and their benefits to direct operating costs (PDF), Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, archived from the original (PDF) on 28 October 2013
  3. "The correlation between airline ground time and profits". AirInsight. May 8, 2017.
  4. International Air Transport Association, Airport Handling Manual (AHM), International Air Transport Association, archived from the original on 18 October 2013
  5. "FBO, Ground Handling in Singapore (WSSL)". Universal Aviation. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  6. "Services assistance aéroport : Handling, assistance en escale - Samsic".
  7. "London Heathrow, United Kingdom (LHR)". www.aa.com.
  8. "Cobalt Ground Solutions".
  9. "GATWICK GROUND SERVICES LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
  10. "Signature BHX | Fixed Base Operator (FBO) at Birmingham Airport". www.signatureflight.com.

Further reading
  • ISO 9001:2008—Quality management systems

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