Swissport International Ltd. is a Swiss aviation services company providing airport ground handling, lounge hospitality and cargo handling services. Its headquarters are located in

Opfikon Opfikon (; in the local Swiss German dialect: )Andres Kristol/Gabrielle Schmid, ''Opfikon ZH (Bülach)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni sviz ...

Canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

, Switzerland. In 2022, Swissport handled around 186 million passengers, 4.8 million tonnes of cargo, and over 3 million flights, on behalf of over 850 companies in the

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

sector. With around 57,000 personnel, Swissport operates at 296 locations in 44 countries. It provides multiple services to their customers which include passenger services (check-in and gate agents, lounge hospitality), security services, baggage services including ramp handling, fueling, executive aviation and air cargo handling.

History

The company was founded in 1996 as Swissair Ground Services International, independent of the former

Swissair Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...

. In the following years, the company expanded both through organic growth and through various acquisitions. As part of the Swissair financial crisis, Swissport was first purchased by the British

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm

Candover Investments Candover Investments plc. was a British-based, private equity firm, specialising in arranging and leading large buyouts and buyins. Candover Investments is structured as an investment trust. On 31 August 2010, Candover announced that it would unw ...

and later sold in August 2005 to the Spanish construction company Ferrovial. In the meantime, the company had grown through various acquisitions. At the end of 2010, Ferrovial sold Swissport for €654 million to the French private equity firm

PAI Partners PAI Partners is a French private equity firm based in Paris. It is one of the oldest firms in the sector, with its origins dating back to Paribas Affaires Industrielles, historically the principal investment arm of Paribas, which started opera ...

. In August 2013, Swissport announced the acquisition of competitor Servisair which bought Handlex in Canada, a part of the group Transat in 2012. In December 2013, the acquisition was approved, subject to conditions by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

. Over the years, Swissport has been the recipient of several industry awards including Ground Handling Award 2013, Air Cargo Handling Agent of the Year 2014 (for the sixth year in succession) and Global Aviation Ground Services Company 2012 (for the twelfth year in succession). On 31 July 2015, China's

HNA Group HNA Group Co., Ltd., was a Chinese conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. Founded in 2000, it was involved in numerous industries including aviation, real estate, financial services, tourism, logistics, and ...

, the parent company of

Hainan Airlines Hainan Airlines is an airline headquartered in Haikou, Hainan, China. It is the largest civilian-run enterprise, civilian-run and majority State ownership, state-owned air transport company, making it the fourth-largest airline in terms of flee ...

, announced that it would purchase Swissport for $2.81 billion US. On 7 March 2018, Swissport concluded the acquisition of Aerocare and its

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

Skycare, Carbridge and EasyCart from Archer Capital and the Aerocare management. Swissport now holds 100% of Aerocare, an Aviation Services and Airport Infrastructure Services provider in Australia and New Zealand. On 8 June 2020, Swissport's Belgian subsidiary declared bankruptcy, which was confirmed by the Belgian commercial courts the following day. On 25 June 2020, Swissport UK & Ireland announced a 50% reduction in its workforce of 8,500. In December 2020, Swissport had completed its comprehensive financial restructuring that began in August 2020. Ownership of the company has been transferred from the HNA Group to a group of financial investors led by the former senior secured lenders of Swissport. Their total existing debt was reduced by about €1.9 billion.

References

External links

* {{Authority control HNA Group Aircraft ground handling companies Foodservice companies Swissair Opfikon Food and drink companies of Switzerland Transport companies established in 1996 Food and drink companies established in 1996 1996 establishments in Switzerland 2015 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in the canton of Zürich