Swissport is in Italy. The global market leader in aviation ground services began serving airlines at Rome-Fiumicino – Italy's largest hub airport – after successfully concluding consultations with trade unions in early July.

In the first five days since starting operations on Thursday, 14 July, Swissport has already served some 67,474 passengers and handled roughly 501 flights for various carriers at Fiumicino airport in Rome, Italy. After being awarded the ground handling business of Alitalia – Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A. in extraordinary administration – at Fiumicino Airport in May 2022, Swissport successfully concluded consultations with trade unions on 4 July. In Rome, Swissport will support ITA Airways and other airlines with safe, cutting-edge and efficient services.

"At Swissport, we are honored to be serving ITA Airways at their home base in Rome," says Warwick Brady, President & CEO of Swissport International AG. "Our market entry in Italy is of strategic importance to us in Europe and delivers on our ambitious global growth and acquisition plan. Serving the home carrier at Fiumicino gives us the local market lead and solidifies Swissport's position as the go-to airline partner for complex hub and large base operations, globally. In Italy, we plan to expand to Linate and other airports across the country."

With demand for air travel rebounding post COVID-19, more and more airlines are refocusing on their core-competencies of safe and reliable flight operations, schedule quality, marketing and digital distribution. Many turn to Swissport as their preferred partner for ground services, increasingly outsourcing even complex hub and home base operations. At Rome-Fiumicino, airlines can choose from a broad service offering and procure any combination of services, including passenger services, lounge hospitality, ramp handling and cargo transport.

Country teams at Swissport are part of a global pool of Swissport aviation professionals who benefit from the company's central governance and a standardized training curriculum. This enables the business to swiftly and reliably start up at any new airport or to take over airport service providers with no disruption to operations.

“After constructive consultations with trade unions, we are delighted to welcome 1,608 former Alitalia employees to the Italian Swissport team,” says Marina Bottelli, Swissport’s General Manager Italy. “We are excited to be serving ITA Airways, the Italian national airline, and other customer airlines with safe, cutting-edge and efficient ground services from day one and are well prepared for the busy summer holiday season.”

With Rome-Fiumicino, Swissport adds a top European business and leisure hub to its growing network of airports and continues its rapid global expansion. The market leader in aviation ground services, based in Zurich, Switzerland, provides some 850 airlines on six continents with a full suite of airport ground services and air cargo handling. For many years, Swissport has been providing hub operations for leading airlines. Examples are Swiss International Air Lines in Zurich (Switzerland) since 2001, Lufthansa in Munich (Germany), Qantas in Sydney and Melbourne (Australia) and Azul at Viracopos (Brazil). Ryanair and easyJet rely on us at several large bases.

In mid-May, Swissport was awarded the contract for ground services at Rome Fiumicino Airport by Alitalia – Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A. in extraordinary administration. Consultations with trade unions began in June 2022 and were successfully concluded on 4 July. On 14 July, the company started to provide ground handling at the airport and is making every effort to ensure smooth operations from the start.

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