Menzies Aviation Holding Limited has secured a license for full freighter handling at Brussels Airport, to the detriment of Swissport. The current licenses expire in October this year.
Brussels Airport initiated the selection procedure in mid-February 2024, to appoint service providers in five categories, in which only a limited number of operators are permitted: baggage handling, ramp handling for passenger aircraft, ramp handling for full freighter aircraft, freight and mail transport, and catering transport.
Apart from Menzies Aviation Holding Limited, the other companies licensed to perform ramp handling for full-freighter aircraft are Aviapartner Cargo NV and dnata NV. The latter two have also been licensed for on-tarmac freight and mail transport, in this case together with Alyzia SAS.
Much interest
According to Patrick Minsart, chairman of the Handling Cluster within Air Cargo Belgium, up to 15 companies submitted an offer. The Spanish group, Acciona Aeropuertos, and France’s Group Europe Handling were also among the applicants. “In fact, all candidates start from point zero,” Mr Minsart says. “They are all evaluated on an equal base.”
In a press release, Brussels Airport says that the proposals received were evaluated based on a series of objective criteria compliant with current legislation to ensure safe, proper and high-quality ground services for airlines.
Sustainability
The selection criteria included sustainability requirements. Particular focus has been placed on the electrification of rolling stock, with specific criteria built into the procedure. This is aligned with the airport’s new environmental permit, which stipulates that 80% of airside vehicles must be electrified or replaced by zero-emission alternatives by 2030.
On a temporary basis, the French company Alizia SAS was already operational in passenger and baggage handling at the airport since 17 December 2020, when Swissport Belgium filed for bankruptcy. Cargo activity, however, was not included in the bankruptcy.
Lawsuit
To date, Menzies does not have a presence at Brussels Airport and therefore an organization and staff will have to be set up by October. The group expressed its interest in passenger and aircraft handling at Brussels Airport as early as 2011 and even went to court when it was not granted a license.
In 2020, Brussels Airport and Menzies allegedly agreed on an indemnity settlement of 15 million euros. When, two years earlier, the licenses had again expired, Menzies submitted an offer as well. This time the group lost due to a procedural error of its own making. According to Patrick Minsart, both Menzies and Alyzia will be welcomed in the ACB handling cluster. Neither Menzies nor Swissport has as yet commented on the decision taken by Brussels Airport.
