HANDLING TALK
ALL CHANGE IN RUSSIA?
The Russian government has introduced
new requirements for ground handling
operators, writes Vladislav Vorotnikov.
e Russian Transport Ministry is seeking
to sharply raise the level of penalties for delays
in any luggage processing in airports by
ground handling companies, Russian deputy
Transport Minister Dmitry Zverev has said,
speaking during a press conference late last
year. e amendments to the Russia Air Code
containing the new rules are currently passing
the public hearings in the country.
e changes are believed to be connected
with the mass delays in the baggage processing
experienced at Sheremetyevo International
airport in Moscow in the June and July of
2019. Russian airline Aero ot was ned
Rub290,000 (around US$4,500) for those
delays, a rmed Ekaterina Korotkova,
spokesperson for the Moscow prosecution
o ce, speaking during a press conference.
e delays a ected thousands of passengers
and some of them missed their connecting
ights as a result; moreover, some ights were
departing without any luggage on board, the
prosecution o ce declared. On average, the
delay period was up to four hours.
Aero ot insisted that it was Sheremetyevo
Handling who was to blame for the problems,
and that ve executives of that company were
red following those delays.
On June 1, Aero ot passed its responsibility
for luggage handing at Sheremetyevo to
Sheremetyevo Handling, but it appears that
the company had not made the necessary
preparations to properly provide service; in
particular, it had not hired enough baggage
handlers, Korotkova said. Sheremetyevo
Handling signed up to provide ground
handling services to Aero ot in Sheremetyevo
airport between 2019 and 2022, with the value
of the contract reportedly put at Rub4.2bn
(around US$80m).
Russian news outlet Meduza reported, citing
its own sources, that when taking over luggage
handling operations at Sheremetyevo airport,
executives of Sheremetyevo Handling cut the
wages of the baggage handlers by 30-40%. A
large number of baggage handlers immediately
le the company, resulting in the overall
number reducing to 1,400; this compares with
the minimum number of 2,000 required for a
practicable operation.
Following the delays, the company
had to raise wages nearly vefold to an
unprecedented Rub200,000 (US$3,200) per
month in order to hire new sta fast enough,
said Mikhail Vasilenko, General Director of
the airport.
It remains to be seen to what extent the
nes will be raised. Speaking earlier this year,
Maksim Suraev, Chairman of the Transport
Committee of State Duma, Lower Chamber of
the Russian Parliament, called for raising nes
tenfold to Rub250 (US$4.2) per passenger
delayed. e Russian Transport Ministry
supported the idea of raising nes, but spoke
against too sharp an increase, claiming that
this would entail “the risks of rising prices for
ight tickets in Russia.”
In the meantime, some reports indicate
that the problems at Sheremetyevo might
be far from being over. Russian newspaper
Life reported that there were some delays in
providing aircra maintenance services by
Sheremetyevo Handling, since several dozens
of mechanics and engineers went on sick
leave in November of 2019 to protest against
low wages. at protest reportedly caused
some delays to aircra departures, although
the information has never been o cially
con rmed by Sheremetyevo airport.
INVESTMENT
IN NIGERIA
Handler Nahco recently
announced that it had spent
N2bn on the acquisition of
ground handling equipment
during the fi rst phase of
its investment plans. The
company also said that it had
now commenced the second
phase of the exercise, which
would entail the purchase of
more equipment to improve
its operations and service to
its clients.
Amongst the equipment
purchased were four sets of
passenger steps from JBT,
together with a hi-loader and
a pair of JBT pushbacks.
GOSH Products provided a
ground power unit while four
tractors were sourced from
AGS. Dizengoff also supplied
tractors while a pushback,
beltloader and a toilet bowser
were all supplied by GOSH.
The company subsequently
posted a profi t before tax
of N973.1m for the third
quarter ended September
30, 2019. The fi gure was
N241.3m higher than the
total for the same period last
year, representing a 32.96%
increase over 2018.
WANTED: A
RENAISSANCE
Having failed to turn a
profi t since 2002, things
are not looking too bright
for Alitalia. The Italian
government has said that it
will prop up the airline for a
further six months but after
that time it will liquidate the
carrier if state intervention
proves unsuccessful.
Under government
administration since 2017
and unattractive to outside
investors, Alitalia continues
to struggle. If the carrier
shows no improvement
by this summer, it will be
sold off as one entity, to
include both the ground
handling and maintenance
divisions.
6 February 2020 Ground Handling International