Tourism & Hospitality | Thursday 9 April, 2015 2:50 pm |

Swiss company Swissport has won the second license to provide ground services at Saudi Arabia’s airports, the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation announced.
Swissport will be working alongside the Saudi Ground Services Company, which is currently the only one handling ground services in the Kingdom’s airports.

GACA had put the second license out earlier for national and international companies and consortiums to compete over, as part of its strategy to improve operational efficiency at the Kingdom’s airports, and the civil aviation sector at large, by introducing competition that would improve performance and help companies and airports cope with the growing demand for air travel.

Out of the 18 national and global companies and consortiums that had applied for the license, 12 qualified, 11 of which filed bids that met GACA’s standards. Swissport, an internationally ranked company, eventually got the highest ratings, thanks to its enjoying a reputation for being one of the world’s best ground services companies.
The company is currently in the process of completing regulatory, technical and legal prerequisites and procedures to have official and commercial presence in the Kingdom. The company is expected to commence operations within six months from now.

By introducing competition into the ground services sector, GACA aims to improve the efficiency and quality of ground services and handling at the Kingdom’s airports. GACA is set to put new licenses for air freight, catering and other sectors up for competition to break the current monopoly and induce professional competition among service providers, which would improve the overall quality of services in the Saudi civil aviation sector.