'Maximum Care' at Maximus Air - SCLG

newsSwissport & SAS sign ‘Letter of Intent’Swissport International Ltd. (Swissport)and Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS)have announced they have signed a Letterof Intent. The letter creates the basis forcontinued negotiations between the twocompanies, aiming at an agreement totransfer full ownership of SAS groundhandling in Denmark, Sweden and Norwayto Swissport. As a first step, both partiesintend to establish a joint venture companyto which the business and operations ofSAS ground handling and Spirit (cargohandling) will be transferred.The Letter of Intent is paving the wayfor continued negotiations between SASand Swissport International related to thecomplete outsourcing of SAS ground andcargo handling services including theworkforce of approximately 5000 full timeemployees in Scandinavia.It is the intention of both companiesto establish a joint venture company ofwhich Swissport will hold 51 percentownership and SAS 49 percent. Swissportwill take the management and operationalresponsibility for the company that willprovide the ground and cargo handlingfor SAS and other airline customersin Scandinavia. SAS will successivelytransfer full ownership of the company toSwissport.Per H. Utnegaard, Group President andCEO Swissport International, “I am veryproud of SAS having chosen Swissport astheir partner for outsourcing the groundservice business. This is a perfect strategicfit for both companies.”Rickard Gustafson, CEO of SAS: “Theletter of intent is an important achievementwithin our strategy 4X Next Generation.Not only is it a significant step towardsdelivering the outsourcing solution thatwe set out for reducing complexity andsecuring a flexible cost base.”Qatar Airways aims for top-five slot, or betterQatar Airways has set its sights onbecoming a top-five global cargo carrierin the next five years. CEO Akbar Al Bakertold the World Cargo Symposium that QRcould even reach second or third placein the global rankings for general cargo(excluding the integrators) within thistime frame.The airline will be operating 11freighters by the end of this year. AlBaker announced that three more A330sfreighters will be delivered by the end ofthis year, taking the total up to six. Thefirst joined the fleet a few days ago, thesecond is imminent and a third will arrivethis spring. He said the new metal offered40 percent more capacity than the A300s,which had been “a core part of our cargofleet” but would now be phased out. TheAirbus capacity will be in addition to QR’sBoeing 777 freighters, which will increaseto five this year.Cargo accounts for 28 percent of QatarAirways’ revenue, compared with anindustry average of 12 percent for. In termsof its belly-hold capacity alone, given itslarge wide-bodied passenger fleet, AlBaker said the carrier could out-performmany combination operators. Chief CargoOfficer Ulrich Ogiermann said QR’s currentcomplement was 121 aircraft, serving 125destinations. By 2015, the carrier is set tohave 170 aircraft. It has 250 aircraft onorder in all.The strongest freight lane currentlyis Hong Kong-Doha, served with sixfreighters per week. Ogiermann wouldnot reveal which new routes the carrierwas targeting as its main-deck fleetexpanded, saying only that the marketremained volatile and the landscapewas “always changing.” Al Baker toldthe conference that Qatar Airways hasapplied for an AOC to operate an airlinein Saudi Arabia, initially for domesticservices only but with later plans tooperate internationally.April 201349