2023-11-26 13:00:00
Never tell Laurent Levaux – the boss and sole shareholder of Aviapartner – that his company is a baggage handler company. He might get angry. “Baggage management is very secondary for Aviapartner,” explains the Liégeois. This doesn’t even represent 10% of our staff.” And the man clarified: Aviapartner is an airport ground services company, active in both commercial aviation and private aviation. “Once a plane hits the ground, it is our responsibility. We manage all the relationships and discussions between the control tower and the plane, all the paperwork, we control the plane, but also the weight allocation of cargo and passengers so that it is well balanced, we bring the gangway or the staircase to take passengers down, we take care of people with reduced mobility… In fact, we manage all the operations of an airline on the ground, including the check-in and boarding of travelers. These are very technical jobs. We have to be experts because we are constantly dealing with security.” Former boss of CMI (steel industry) and ABX Logistics (logistics), Laurent Levaux is well known to the general public for having been responsible for restoring order to the Nethys company, following the scandal which affected the Liège company. The former student of UCL and the University of Chicago is an absolute believer in the standardization of processes.” When I don’t have the same glasses in my cupboard, I go crazy,” he smiles.
Aviapartner has just set up in South Africa. Why this choice ?
Africa is a continent in full development, but which remains less well equipped in infrastructure. In the three largest airports on the continent, you have two South Africans, Johannesburg, in first place, and Cape Town, following Cairo and before Casablanca. Kinshasa airport is, for example, 50 times smaller than Johannesburg airport. South Africa is a center of attractiveness for all of Africa, a player listened to and respected by other sub-Saharan countries. In short, it is the royal gateway to the African continent where we have other projects, including in airports close to the Mediterranean.
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Do you have projects on other continents?
No, we will limit ourselves for the moment to Europe, where we are, by far, the largest ground service airport group, and to Africa. You know, Aviapartner was a small Antwerp company created just following the Second World War. It has grown nicely in some airports. I returned there in 2008, at the time of the crisis, at the request of an investment fund which wanted to get it out of the doldrums. At the time, Aviapartner was present in 11 airports in Belgium, France and Germany. We are now at 64, across Europe, plus South Africa which has just been added. The group has grown significantly in 14 years, now with more than 15,000 employees.
Aviapartner employs nearly 15,000 people in Europe and Africa. ©DR
You are increasingly carrying out missions previously reserved for airline staff, such as check-in and passenger boarding.
Yes, there are still a few companies in Europe, such as Brussels Airlines or Air France, which take care of boarding at their main airport – in Zaventem for the Belgian company. But otherwise, it is very often us who carry out this task. It’s quite a job because companies have different recording systems. Our staff also have good psychological training because the passenger can be very aggressive. There are attacks, often light and especially verbal, every week. We try to understand this aggression of the passenger to prevent and avoid these attacks. This is often due to unjustified stress, or with an incident. One case is, for example, that of a passenger who wants to go to Oman, but who realizes at the airport that his passport no longer has the necessary validity. We can’t let him go and he’ll get angry. There are also people who arrive two minutes late compared to the deadline imposed by the companies and whom we are not allowed to record.
Are you responsible if a passenger’s luggage is lost?
No, it is the airport which is responsible for the baggage flow. If the system breaks down, it will be its responsibility. In the European Union, we still have one bag in 200 that does not arrive at the right place. There is a big problem. I have two recommendations to make to passengers. Try not to travel with checked luggage when you can and put air tags on your luggage. It costs a few euros and can locate your luggage via your phone.
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“In the European Union, we still have one bag in 200 that does not arrive at the right place. There is a big problem.”
Some airports allow all airport controls to be carried out using facial recognition technology only. Will the technology save passengers time during various checks?
Yes, everything is going faster and faster and is more and more secure. Air travel is an extremely innovative sector, which remains 10,000 times safer than cars. We are a sector that pulls all other sectors. Before, a plane might stay on the ground for half a day, or even a whole day. Today Ryanair operates 25-minute rotations between two flights. The two difficult moments for a passenger are the security check and, if necessary, the customs check. Brussels Airport is, in my eyes, one of the best managed airports in Europe, with, in particular, an exceptional and very fast passenger security screening system. The problem is that there are not enough customs officers and the lines are sometimes long. It’s nagging. We suffer from it.
Do you have a project for the total management of small airports?
Yes, this is a project that we are currently studying. We have contacts and some things might happen soon. A small airport is often managed by a region in Europe. But the public authorities do not have the expertise and it would be an advantage for these airports to have a professional in charge. We have expanded our services, including the management of lounges at certain airports.
gull
We have already had to withdraw badges because of suspicious profiles and therefore people no longer have jobs with us.
Your staff has access to sensitive areas of the airport. Do you do a specific screening when you hire someone?
Yes, there is screening, because it is obviously on the runway that someone might put something on a plane. At the time of the attacks, we realized that the police were not “rescreening” enough and we are demanding that this change. For us, this screening must be done every year, which is not currently the case. We have already had to withdraw badges because of suspicious profiles and therefore people no longer have jobs with us. We are very particular regarding this. It is out of the question to take the slightest risk on the subject. We also encourage unions and our staff members to notify us of people at risk or who might slip up. And I’m not just talking regarding religious or other radicalization, it can also be linked to theft. We were also victims of a cyber attack two years ago, but we quickly contained it. If we have to stop our services, no planes can take off or land.
Aviapartner’s missions are varied. “As soon as a plane hits the ground, it is our responsibility.” ©DR
You are present in all Belgian airports except Charleroi, why?
Charleroi interests us, like all airports in Europe, but we would lose money if we wanted to set up there. The prices charged by the Walloon airport are abnormally low. And then we don’t have access to it since the ground service is provided only by agents from the Walloon region. According to a European directive, an airport which transports more than two million passengers per year, which is the case of Charleroi, must nevertheless establish competition between its ground service operators. We are in Brussels; for example, in competition with the French from Alysia. Swissport, the largest group in the world, left Zaventem overnight during the pandemic, leaving planes grounded. We have decided to continue providing services, despite Covid. We were the only ones to maintain such a service in Europe throughout the crisis, which subsequently allowed us to have real recognition from airlines. The recovery is different depending on the airports. In Brussels, we are only at 70% of 2019 volumes, in Spain we are almost at 115%. Overall in the European Union, we will return to the pre-Covid level next year, in 2024. One of our strengths is also to offer complete or almost complete coverage per country for an airline, which makes their lives easier. We also have a very standardized service.
gull
Charleroi interests us, like all airports in Europe, but we would lose money if we wanted to set up there.
Aviapartner is also active in private jet operations. A business that certain political parties would strongly like to limit or even eliminate.
Yes, the jets are contested by some of the political elite who also travel by private plane. In this sector, we are also, by far, the European leader, since we operate at forty airports. This concerns government, health, business and leisure services for people who have means. In my opinion, we can perfectly force private jets to fly on green fuel in five years. People who fly private jets can afford to do so and it wouldn’t make a huge difference to pay more for fuel.
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But there is not enough green fuel available at the moment…
If we make this fuel compulsory for private jets, the supply will explode because producers will know that they can make money. Our capitalist system is like this: people create because there are financial opportunities. This is a decision that might be taken very quickly at European level. And therefore, why would we prohibit someone from traveling in a private jet if they do not pollute? Under what pretext? Liberty is one of our values along with fraternity and equality. Do we want to become like China or Russia? Or do we want a country of freedom, which is limited in relation to the damage we do to others. Private jets are a symbol. Our politicians have more urgent things to manage, such as putting electric terminals in the streets to charge our vehicles or knowing how we are going to do without nuclear power to produce all this additional electricity we will need.
Aviapartner employees have access to sensitive areas of an airport. They are therefore “screened”. ©DR
gull
Do we want to become like China or Russia?
In many European countries, there are heated debates regarding the future of airports, due to aircraft pollution. What do you think ?
The whole world doesn’t care regarding any of this. Europe yes. But even if we are the only ones to decarbonize, we must do it. We must be a guide, showing others that it is possible. Historically, the aviation sector is a sector which depollutes much more quickly than the car. Let’s not talk regarding maritime, which is a disaster. Aviation represents only 2% of global carbon emissions. Before 2050, we will hardly pollute anymore. It takes a little time, but we will move to planes running on green energy or hydrogen; We know we’re going to get there. We have technical solutions, which we do not have in many areas, such as in the insulation of houses, for example, the cost of which will be gigantic. Are we going to tell someone “you can no longer go on vacation” or “you have the right to one trip per lifetime”, as some Ecologists have declared. Why shouldn’t people have the right to travel while polluting little when they have the right to pollute much more by heating their homes?
gull
We are the only country in Europe where there can be wildcat strikes at an airport.
In 2018, Aviapartner experienced major strikes which affected passengers in Belgium. What regarding the social climate in the company?
We are the only country in Europe where there can be wildcat strikes at an airport. For 15 years, the only country where we have had significant work stoppages is in Belgium and it has always been savage. One day, a union said: “everyone stop”, without there having been any negotiations. Airports are very visible places where enormous damage can be done to a public, the aggrieved passengers, who have nothing to do with the negotiations. There is also a notoriety effect. If a union leader stops an airport, he will be on television all day, in all the newspapers…. If it’s a stop at a factory, we’ll hardly talk regarding it. A strike in an airport has a significant media impact for unions who want to have influence at the political level, show their power in relation to other partners or simply prepare for their social elections. This puts enormous pressure, even on politicians, to find a solution. In 2018, during the last wildcat strike by our staff, we had to wait 36 hours following the start of the work stoppage for the unions to send us a list of demands, some of which were completely far-fetched. . Until then, it was unclear why they went on strike because there were no negotiations on any issue. But they blocked the airport for three days. It was a purely political strike, linked to the social elections. In France, there are never strike pickets. It’s very Belgian. In Spain, 99% of planes must leave on time even in the event of a strike.
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