Swissport Tanzania plans to invest US $1.8m on ground equipment at the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) to improve export handling facilities.
“Aviation technology is changing rapidly and to be competitive we have to keep abreast of the trends by investing heavily. Swissport has invested US $17.8m in cargo handling infrastructure, ground support equipment and information technology over the last five years,” said Swissport Chief Executive Officer Mrisho Yassin.
According to Yassin, Swissport also constructed a US $11.8m warehouse and expanded an export cold room facility at US $446,225 at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA). The warehouse has an annual throughput capacity of 80,000 tonnes. The company handles 32 airlines. That is equivalent to 99% of the cargo and ground handling industry market share. According to Mr Yassin, the investment has improved Swissport’s service delivery.
Moreover, the company last year missed its revenue target by only 10% despite a tough business environment. Still, the huge investment has improved the quality of ground handling services. “Our investments aim at strengthening our operations to continue offering quality services at JNIA, KIA, Songwe and Mtwara airports,” noted Mr Yassin.
“We also aim at making sure that our operating environment is safe and compliant with the industry quality health and safety requirements,” he added. To sustain their performance, Swissport will continue investing in line with its five-year business plan.
Also read: Tanzania: expansion of Kilimanjaro Airport to cost US$40m
The 32-year-old company employs 1,000 people, handles about 17,000 flights, 1,183,000 embarking passengers and 20,000 tonnes of cargo annually. The company is certified on International Air Transport Association’s Safety Audit for Ground Operations and Environmental Management (ISO 14001:2015).
Nevertheless, 51% of the company shares are owned by Swissport International Ltd and the rest by over 10,000 institutional and individual investors through the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange. Swissport International Ltd is a leading global airport and aviation services provider in terms of quality, reliability, safety, innovation and network coverage. It provides ground services for more than 230 million passengers and handles 4.3 million tonnes of cargo a year.
With more than 62,000 employees, it is active at more than 280 stations in 48 countries across five continents, and generates a consolidated operating revenue of US $3.4bn annually.
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