Aviapartner

In 1949, Belgavia was founded in Antwerp, Belgium. In the following years, it expanded their services to the airports of Ostend (1957), Liège (1965) and Brussels (1970). It was not until the 1990s for the company to go international. Bases in France and later in Germany were opened. In 1999, the name was changed to Aviapartner. The group expanded by taking over Servisair in Rotterdam (2002), Aero Groundservices in Amsterdam (2007) and SAT in Bordeaux and La Rochelle (2010).

In 2011, Aviapartner lost its handling licence in Brussels for seven years to Swissport. This raised the prospect of thousands of job losses and led to a major 24-hour strike in June 2011 that affected many flights and passengers.

Aviapartner went to court as they believed judicial mistakes had been made. The judge ruled that a new investigation was to be conducted and that, in the meantime, Aviapartner could continue operations at the airport. Before a new investigation was concluded, Swissport took over Flightcare, the other ground handling company at the airport. Note that only two handling licences are issued at the airport.

In 2012, Aviapartner announced a merger with the French Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), which would have created the largest ground handler in Europe. This merge was not successful.

Passenger handling:

Check-in, ticketing, boarding assistance, lost and found baggage services, assistance to disabled passengers, passenger ground transportation.

Ramp handling:

Loading and unloading of baggage and cargo to/from aircraft on the ramp, ground power provision for aircraft, cleaning, water and sanitary services, freight and baggage transfer to terminal, crew transfer from aircraft to terminal/hotel, pushback and towing, with headset, aircraft de-icing.