Swissport Belgium nv/sa bankruptcy

[Passenger]

Belgian Federal Parliament: answer from minister Bellot (Transport) to a few questions about Swissport:

Monsieur le président, chers collègues, il s'agit avant tout d'un drame socioéconomique. Et je tiens à exprimer aux travailleurs concernés et à leur famille tout notre soutien.
La première ministre, le vice-premier ministre De Croo, la ministre de l'Emploi et moi-même avons eu l'occasion de rencontrer les permanents syndicaux de Swissport à qui nous avons exposé un certain nombre d'éléments.
Tout d'abord, Swissport était une entreprise en difficulté depuis de très nombreuses années; elle avait accumulé plusieurs millions d'euros de déficit, malgré un nombre de passagers qui n'avait jamais atteint ce niveau à Bruxelles. Il existait donc un problème de gestion structurel, problème qui a conduit à ce déficit important. L'arrivée de la crise COVID n'a fait qu'accentuer cette situation financière problématique, ce qui a provoqué la faillite de l'entreprise.
Il faut savoir que nous avons appris la nouvelle, comme vous, lundi matin. Nous n'avons pas été prévenus à l'avance. Nous n'avons reçu aucun appel téléphonique.
Je regrette que la décision de mise en faillite n'ait pu faire l'objet de discussions en amont avec le gouvernement et l'Economic Risk Management Group qui a mis en place un groupe de travail sur le secteur aérien.
Jusqu'à maintenant, 3 000 travailleurs du secteur des entreprises de handling, plus précisément d'Aviapartner et de Swissport, étaient au chômage temporaire.
Er zijn de voorbije weken pogingen geweest om contact te leggen met het management van Swissport, helaas zonder antwoord van hen. Het is bijzonder moeilijk om te helpen waar dit kan en binnen de regels die daarvoor gelden, als er geen communicatie mogelijk is. De drie curatoren hebben daags na hun aanstelling reeds bevestigd dat Swissport zijn activiteiten stopzet en dat het personeel wordt ontslagen. Wij wachten op meer informatie.
L'activité de Swissport est une activité à haute intensité de main-d'oeuvre directement proportionnelle au nombre de voyageurs. Le nombre de travailleurs est donc proportionnel au volume de passagers, volume quasiment nul aujourd'hui. Zéro!
Je nourris donc l'espoir qu'au fur et à mesure que les activités aéroportuaires retrouveront leur rythme, le nombre de travailleurs nécessaires pour assurer ces activités augmentera à nouveau et qu'on atteindra le même niveau de voyageurs et donc le même niveau de travailleurs dans le secteur du handling.
Il faut maintenant accompagner au mieux les travailleurs. Les Régions auront un rôle important à jouer dans le cadre de l'accompagnement des travailleurs licenciés pour la formation, la réinsertion mais aussi dans l'attente de leur rendre le job qu'ils avaient, si tel est leur choix.
De prognoses zijn momenteel pessimistisch, maar op een bepaald ogenblik zal de vraag naar handlingdiensten opnieuw toenemen. Gekwalificeerd en ervaren personeel zal dan opnieuw nodig zijn. Het is dan ook de bedoeling dat mijn diensten en Brussels Airport vaart zetten achter de selectie van de verplichte tweede handler op de luchthaven.
Les procédures ont débuté et diverses possibilités actuellement à l'étude devraient aboutir rapidement. Dans l'intervalle, l'exploitant de l'aéroport met en place une solution temporaire afin que les opérations de handling puissent être réalisées pour tous les avions de passagers qui arrivent, et ce afin d'éviter que les avions atterrissent ailleurs.
Dès lundi, Brussels Airport reprendra une activité aéroportuaire considérable. Les sociétés de handling telles qu'Aviapartner seront là avec leur personnel pendant le temps nécessaire à la reprise d'une seconde société de handling et à la conclusion d'un contrat entre les exploitants et Aviapartner ou Swissport.
Les licences devaient être renouvelées, il y a deux ans. Nous les avons renouvelées pour de courtes périodes en raison des difficultés rencontrées par Swissport. C'est donc à la faveur d'une recapitalisation par Swissport Holding que nous avons pu renouveler la licence pour les sept années à venir, car il fallait garantir l'absence de dettes sociales ou d'autres dettes ébranlant la confiance des créanciers. Telle était la situation il y a quelques mois mais, aujourd'hui, c'est la société mère en Suisse qui a décidé de déposer le bilan.
Monsieur Hedebouw, vous avez souligné que les prix étaient relativement bas. C'est effectivement le cas du prix du handling à Bruxelles, qui est le résultat d'une concurrence effrénée entre les handlers, il y a quelques années, de sorte que les tarifs pouvaient difficilement remonter. Selon moi, ce modèle ne sera pas tenable, et les tarifs unitaires du handling devront reprendre, en particulier à Bruxelles.
En tant que ministre, je m'efforce de toujours faire preuve de loyauté. Pour moi, un travailleur, qu'il se trouve à Arlon, à Charleroi, à Anvers ou à Gand, est avant tout un travailleur, et vous ne trouverez jamais dans la politique que j'ai menée, le moindre écart à cette loyauté.
Les situations de Zaventem et de Charleroi ne sont pas comparables car, à Charleroi, l'aéroport assure lui-même les opérations de handling. Ils enregistrent aussi des pertes et c'est le secteur public qui va encaisser (la Soar). À Bruxelles, le modèle mis en place est différent. J'ose espérer que l'ensemble des acteurs, en ce compris l'exploitant, feront tout ce qui est en leur pouvoir afin de participer financièrement à la résurrection d'entreprises qui sont indispensables à la reprise de l'activité. Il en va non seulement de leur intérêt mais aussi de l'intérêt des travailleurs et de l'intérêt général. À un moment donné, il faut pouvoir mutualiser les moyens dont les uns et les autres disposent afin de garantir la reprise de l'activité.

[sn26567]

Brussels Airport says it has solutions for 90% of the flights when activities resume next Monday. With Aviapartner, of course, but also with the handling licence of Brussels Airlines itself.

[Passenger]

Some newspapers report that Aviapartner will get a € 25M lifeline from the Belgian federal government.

[Stella_Caeli]

This very ironic picture - and IMHO a picture that should be part of "BRU's year 2020 in review" - is Swiss' flight from ZRH today, greeted by Aviapartner, and immediately whisked to the farthest remote stand possible in BRU, even with several unoccupied gates available in Terminal A.

Buses can only carry a limited amount of pax due to COVID-19, and given that it was a full flight in both directions, that means there will be 6 of Aviapartner newest electrical bus rides billed to Swiss, in addition to the 10 smiling workers, all of the remote stand gear and the police supervision (yes) Aviapartner deployed to handle this flight, just because.

This led to 23 minutes delay on departure because, well, it takes some time to drive from/to terminal A when you are unfortunately parked close to the threshold of runway 7R, especially when the bus drives at the appropriate speed for Swiss pax to enjoy their complimentary "stored aircraft and dead airport tour" with Aviapartner, which also includes a circle around the Swiss aircraft for no apparent reason.

Swiss currently flies 2 times a week to BRU (M/F), and not to be outdone, they brought their own supervisor in from ZRH today to document and report back to the HQ, as apparently there had been issues last Monday as well.

Looks like those two still need to straighten some historical issues out.

[lucas]

This very ironic picture - and IMHO a picture that should be part of "BRU's year 2020 in review" - is Swiss' flight from ZRH today, greeted by Aviapartner, and immediately whisked to the farthest remote stand possible in BRU, even with several unoccupied gates available in Terminal A.

Buses can only carry a limited amount of pax due to COVID-19, and given that it was a full flight in both directions, that means there will be 6 of Aviapartner newest electrical bus rides billed to Swiss, in addition to the 10 smiling workers, all of the remote stand gear and the police supervision (yes) Aviapartner deployed to handle this flight, just because.

This led to 23 minutes delay on departure because, well, it takes some time to drive from/to terminal A when you are unfortunately parked close to the threshold of runway 7R, especially when the bus drives at the appropriate speed for Swiss pax to enjoy their complimentary "stored aircraft and dead airport tour" with Aviapartner, which also includes a circle around the Swiss aircraft for no apparent reason.

Swiss currently flies 2 times a week to BRU (M/F), and not to be outdone, they brought their own supervisor in from ZRH today to document and report back to the HQ, as apparently there had been issues last Monday as well.

Looks like those two still need to straighten some historical issues out.

I think the same happened to Austrian. I saw on FR24 that the Swiss and Austrian aircraft were parked next to each other.

[Tb1]

This very ironic picture - and IMHO a picture that should be part of "BRU's year 2020 in review" - is Swiss' flight from ZRH today, greeted by Aviapartner, and immediately whisked to the farthest remote stand possible in BRU, even with several unoccupied gates available in Terminal A.

Buses can only carry a limited amount of pax due to COVID-19, and given that it was a full flight in both directions, that means there will be 6 of Aviapartner newest electrical bus rides billed to Swiss, in addition to the 10 smiling workers, all of the remote stand gear and the police supervision (yes) Aviapartner deployed to handle this flight, just because.

This led to 23 minutes delay on departure because, well, it takes some time to drive from/to terminal A when you are unfortunately parked close to the threshold of runway 7R, especially when the bus drives at the appropriate speed for Swiss pax to enjoy their complimentary "stored aircraft and dead airport tour" with Aviapartner, which also includes a circle around the Swiss aircraft for no apparent reason.

Swiss currently flies 2 times a week to BRU (M/F), and not to be outdone, they brought their own supervisor in from ZRH today to document and report back to the HQ, as apparently there had been issues last Monday as well.

Looks like those two still need to straighten some historical issues out.

I think the same happened to Austrian. I saw on FR24 that the Swiss and Austrian aircraft were parked next to each other.

Bussing is not done by Aviapartner. Brussels Airport is doing the bussing themselve, the airline shouldn't pay anything to Aviapartner for doing this. I have no idea if the airline should pay something for this service to Brussels Airport Company.

So this is not extra profit for Aviapartner.

If you would look to the bus, you would not see any logo of Aviapartner, only of Brussels Airport.

Only persons in orange clothes are working for Aviapartner and I don't see anybody on your photo

[Stella_Caeli]

Only persons in orange clothes are working for Aviapartner and I don't see anybody on your photo

Well, the stairs didn't drive to the door by themselves, but the camera angle was to avoid faces as much as possible for privacy reasons.

Some of them were on the other side of the plane setting up baggage and catering loading, others were to the right of the angle directing pax, more workers in front of the plane. I counted 10.

[b720]

Same Situation in the LH flight yesterday evening to Frankfurt.

[Tb1]

Only persons in orange clothes are working for Aviapartner and I don't see anybody on your photo

Well, the stairs didn't drive to the door by themselves, but the camera angle was to avoid faces as much as possible for privacy reasons.

Some of them were on the other side of the plane setting up baggage and catering loading, others were to the right of the angle directing pax, more workers in front of the plane. I counted 10.

Aviapartner isn't doing any catering, So they are just there to load your bags and 1 redcap. So I can't believe that there were 10 Aviapartner employees to handle 1 flight. and 1 of the loaders drives the stairs, So no extra manpower is needed to do that.

So i don't think that they are on remote position to make more profit. Aviapartner is with same amount of people there like on a jetway position. It's even a disadvantage for them because also the bags and redcap should drive further.

Another note: Brussels Airport is choosing the stand, as handler you can't select them. And maybe LX is asking for a remote stand because they are cheaper than jetway stands ...

[OO-JEF]

As far as I heard Aviapartner doesn't posess the correct towbars/pushbacks to handle these type of aircraft (LH CRJ and LX CS300) so at remote stands they can just taxi out.

[Established02]

maybe LX is asking for a remote stand because they are cheaper than jetway stands ...

There is no need for a pushback on these particular remote stands, which is also a costsaver.

[Tb1]

As far as I heard Aviapartner doesn't posess the correct towbars/pushbacks to handle these type of aircraft (LH CRJ and LX CS300) so at remote stands they can just taxi out.

Strange because if SK is flying with a CRJ aircraft, Aviapartner is pushing the aircrafts (from jetway stand)

[OO-JEF]

As far as I heard Aviapartner doesn't posess the correct towbars/pushbacks to handle these type of aircraft (LH CRJ and LX CS300) so at remote stands they can just taxi out.

Strange because if SK is flying with a CRJ aircraft, Aviapartner is pushing the aircrafts (from jetway stand)

True, forgot about them.

[Tb1]

As far as I heard Aviapartner doesn't posess the correct towbars/pushbacks to handle these type of aircraft (LH CRJ and LX CS300) so at remote stands they can just taxi out.

Strange because if SK is flying with a CRJ aircraft, Aviapartner is pushing the aircrafts (from jetway stand)

True, forgot about them.

So, I think that it will be on request of LX, LH, ...

[Stella_Caeli]

So I can't believe that there were 10 Aviapartner employees to handle 1 flight.

We had 6 baggage loaders. On the pic you see 5, note to the left there are 2 close to each other with one obstructing the view of the other. The 6th one was in the cargo bay.



At the same time, there was one guy sitting in the APU cart. There were 2 females in Aviapartner hi-viz directing pax on the tarmac. One Aviapartner guy went into the flight deck with paperwork.

So, I think that it will be on request of LX, LH, ...

Cabin crew seemed surprised we went for the remote stand. Then again, that doesn't mean much.

[Tb1]

So I can't believe that there were 10 Aviapartner employees to handle 1 flight.

We had 6 baggage loaders. On the pic you see 5, note to the left there are 2 close to each other with one obstructing the view of the other. The 6th one was in the cargo bay.



At the same time, there was one guy sitting in the APU cart. There were 2 females in Aviapartner hi-viz directing pax on the tarmac. One Aviapartner guy went into the flight deck with paperwork.

So, I think that it will be on request of LX, LH, ...

Cabin crew seemed surprised we went for the remote stand. Then again, that doesn't mean much.

I think that they will pay a fixed price so if they Would be with 3,4,5,6, that don't matter

[flightlover]

In a way you should be happy there are 6, this means they are more eager to handle a plane than just sitting inside waiting for their assigned plane coming in.
It could also be that some of them are there to experience, first hand, the how and what the airline wants during turn-around. Hands-on experience is much more valuable than an overview on paper. Swiss is a new client for them and most clients have some deviations in their handling procedures.

[Stella_Caeli]

Swiss is a new client for them and most clients have some deviations in their handling procedures.

That's possible, I overheard the LX supervisor who also was on the flight saying there were "some issues" last Monday and that he was to observe the handling process, they seemed unhappy with some aspects of Aviapartner's handling. He rushed to the front of the plane after the seatbelt sign was turned off as he was seated either in the back of Business or in the front of Economy. I later saw him talking with someone from Aviapartner.

In any case, the ride to Terminal A was very comfortable due to the electric vehicle, but long and slow, with some pax expressing frustration at how long it took. Note that the plane already had a long taxi ride for BRU standards, from RWY 25R all the way to the proximity of the threshold of RWY 7R. The pax were then bused for practically the same trip in reverse. Since the buses would only take a limited amount of pax, it would have taken quite some time for those in the back of the plane to have reached Terminal A.

The plane left with 23 mins delay albeit an on-time arrival. IME LX/LH don't like this at all and I can't see them willingly sacrificing their pünktlichkeit and risk missed connections simply to save some $$$ by parking at the most remote stand. As mentioned above, the cabin crew didn't seem to be briefed of the remote stand situation either and had to make additional announcements. My feeling is that there's more to this story, and it's not a lack of available gates.

[sn26567]

Isn't the use of a remote stand due to the fact that most gates in Terminal A are occupied by idle planes?

[flightlover]

Isn't the use of a remote stand due to the fact that most gates in Terminal A are occupied by idle planes?

Isn't the A-terminal closed for some time?