Aviapartner
Aviapartner, whose origins date back to 1949 under the name of Herfurth Air Services to become
History
In 1949, Belgavia was founded in Antwerp, Belgium. In the following years, it expanded their services to the airports of Ostend, Liège and Brussels. 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, Aero Groundservices in Amsterdam and SAT in Bordeaux and La Rochelle.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, which would have created the largest ground handler in Europe. This merge was not successful.
Range of ground handling services
- Passenger handling:
- Ramp handling:
- Traffic operations:
- Cargo handling:
- Courier handling:
Belgium