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Ground Handling

Improvements at Teesside

Introduction

Ground handling is something that happens in the background of an airport and the average enthusiast or member of the public doesn't give it a second thought, however it is a crucial part of any airport operation and here at Teesside there has been a (hopefully) pioneering change in the set-up of our handling operation that is worthy of further exploration.

The airport authority have made the smart decision to bring ground handling in-house (although the ramp operation is sub-contracted to Willis Aviation Services). As such 8th October 2023 is Swissports final day at the airport after which they will move out (which means a marked decrease in ground equipment obstacles for the photographers amongst us), and the staff will transfer to either the airport (front of house) or Willis (back of house).

Passengers are the responsibility of the airline and the airport, so it stands to reason that these are the only two entities who should involve themselves in the handling of passengers and aircraft. It's hoped we set the precedent for other airports, although it is reported Exeter for one may have already done what we are doing.

The current set-up

Historically, Swissport have handled check-in and ramp, and the airport have handled the bags. With the return of Ryanair in June 2021 Swissport held the contract for a year after which the transition began, and in June 2022 the airport took-over check-in and gave Willis the ramp plus baggage for Ryanair. A year later TUI followed suit (Swissport had handled the bags for TUI during their first season back here, the only example of them doing so at MME, they handle bags at their other bases as standard).

Lineage

Swissport

Swissport never purposely opened a base at Teesside, they inherited it through their takeover of Penauille Servisair in 2014.

Servisair/Penauille Servisair

The longest serving staff member at Teesside began in 1987 and he recalls that Servisair were already here then. A trawl through our historic photos shows the earliest sign of Servisair ground support equipment in a photo tentatively marked 1977, with a set of branded steps attached to a Sud Aviation Caravelle marked "EAJ". After that, it's not until 1990 that their branding becomes a regular sight. Prior to this, all ground support equipment was marked either Tees-Side Airport or British Midland. Servisair were owned by Penauille Polyservices from January 1999 but only became Penauille Servisair from January 2006.

Aviance UK

In 2010, Aviance UK merged into Penauille Servisair. I thought there had been a small gap between them leaving us and the merger due to pickings becoming too slim during the quiet years, however some quote the takeover as the reason for their departure. Aviance was known as British Midlands in-house handling operation however that's not strictly true, they were created in 2000 from the purchase of British Midlands ground handling operation by Go-Ahead Group, who also purchased another company, Reed Aviation, and merged both into their existing handling operator, Gatwick Handling.

My (CS) first job interview at Teesside was with Aviance, I recall the day well, an IT failure was causing havoc, with check-in systems and flight screens u/s. This delayed the interview somewhat and when the Station Manager, a well-respected man around the airport named Gus Stewart, finally got to me, his colleague from HR who was also supposed to be doing part of the interview was off sick or otherwise unavailable, and as such the bulk of the interview was spent discussing the airports fortunes! Needless to say I never got the job but it still reigns supreme as the best interview I ever had! I remember one topic of conversation was the impending arrival of Wizz Air, Gus noted they had wanted handling for £130 per turnaround, and said Aviance had rejected the contract stating they couldn't do it for so little, and Gus was bamboozled as to how Servisair had been able to accept them.

All remaining long term staff at the airport have their heritage in Servisair, no Aviance staff remain. Aviance were considered the more appealing company to work for as the staff received the same perks and benefits as British Midland cabin crew. 

Other Entities

ICS ("Inflight Catering Services") had a sizeable Teesside base with their branding noted in photos from the 1980s onwards. They left because of the decline in the late 2000s, but prior to this they had a 24-hour operation between Hangars 1+2 and one of my colleagues can't stress enough the scale of their operation, recalling it as a constant hive of activity that never stopped. I've also since learned that ICS also stood for "Inflight Cleaning Services" a role they also carried out here. I noticed they had branded ground power units in a few photos during the 1990s which struck me as odd since such kit is not required for either catering or cleaning, I've since learned they carried out all ground handling functions for British Midland bar "headsets" (communicating with the crew to co-ordinate a push-back). I always thought British Midland Handling transitioned straight into Aviance but it seems ICS may have bridged the gap. Their vehicles don't appear in photos after the 90s but I recall enthusiasts not being allowed between H1+2 during my early days in the hobby due to it being their area (so that's around 2006/7ish). I'm also unsure whether or not they had any contracts [for full handling] other than British Midland.

Menzies are the fuel provider at Teesside and have been for quite some time I think, with the possible exception of a brief period prior to the TVCA takeover when we tried to do it ourselves in-house, only to conclude it was too specialised.

Fresh Jet had the catering contract during the middle portion of the Loganair base. They only arrived post-Covid and must have been here for less than a year. They left well before the base was announced as closing but close enough to the end for us to reasonably assume their departure must have been because the decision had already been made to pull the aircraft.

Alpha Flight Services branded vehicles can be seen in some shots from the 1990s, they came down from Newcastle on Tuesdays and Thursdays to service Britannia flights.

Contracts

The below covers the Aviance period from 2000-2010 and is based on the recollection of long serving airport staff. We have a photo showing a Britannia 757 using Aviance steps but these must have been borrowed by Servisair. Servisair inherited FlyGlobespan when Aviance left, (thinking about it, that proves they did in fact leave prior to the merger). Aviance won Iberworld from Servisair, curious that Iberworld arranged their own handling, given they usually flew on behalf of Airtours you would expect the Airtours contract would have covered them too, same with Air Europa (Thomson), Futura (Airtours) and Spanair (both).

AVIANCE	SERVISAIR
bmibaby	Air 2000>First Choice Airways
British Midland Airways>bmi	Air Europa
FlyGlobespan	Air Malta
Iberworld Airlines	Air Southwest
	Airtours International Airways>MyTravel Airways
	BH Air
	Britannia Airways>Thomsonfly
	British Airways Citiexpress
	Eastern Airways
	Eirjet
	Eurocypria Airlines
	FlyGlobespan
	Futura International Airways
	Girjet
	Helios Airways>AJet Aviation
	Iberworld Airlines
	JMC Airlines>Thomas Cook Airlines
	KLM Cityhopper
	LTE International Airlines>Volar Airlines
	MapJet (Flightline)
	Monarch Airlines
	Onur Air
	Pegasus Airlines
	Ryanair
	SATA Internacional
	Spanair
	Wizz Air
	XL Airways

The Law

ICAO specify that any airport with over 1 million passengers per annum must allow a second, external, handling agent to operate from the facility. Given we have aspirations for 1.5m per year, this might explain in part why Willis have had the ramp sub-contracted to them, as it would satisfy this criteria. Certainly they aren't going to kick Swissport out if they are only going to have to let them or someone else back in again in just a few years! I know the introduction of this rule, which I'm guessing was during the 1990s, upset Manchester in particular, who had an elite in-house handling company that was the envy of others, then the competition arrived and undercut them whilst providing poorer service through skeleton staffing to justify the lower prices, eventually leading Manchesters own operation to be wound down.

There will no doubt have been other firms dropping in and out over the years - do you know of any? Let us know!