march2021 - 27

INTERNATIONAL

Business Environment
In Eastern Europe there is the trend of
airports which tend to own the ground
handling subsidiaries.
" This phenomenon is mostly in Central Europe rather than the whole Eastern
European continent, but it is an aspect that
perhaps is more prominent than it is in
Western Europe, where airlines have long
ago decided to outsource ground handling
and airports as well. So, whereas in Western Europe there is a clear triangular relationship between the airline, the airport
and the ground handler. In Eastern Europe,
and especially with smaller airports, this
is often not the case, " says Fabio Gamba,
director general of the Airport Services
Association (ASA).
In relation to the specific requirements
of LCCs, several airlines accomplish the
ground handling themselves and often do
not require the use of independent ground
handlers.
" Another aspect is that they are
extremely focused on turnaround time.
They often require the minimum service
because they need to be able to take-off
in 20-25 minutes, " says Gamba. " The network carriers have hubs and spokes and
short haul flights, which are often used to
feed the longer haul flights. This does not
exist with low-cost carriers and therefore
it changes quite considerably the nature of
the relationship that ground handlers may
have with LCCs. "
Czech Airlines Handling (CSAH) provides a combination of services for the
ground handling of passengers, aircraft,
cargo and post, including aircraft refueling responsibilities, for more than 40 air
carriers at Václav Havel Airport (PRG) in
Prague.
" In the wake of the pandemic, we had to
face frequent changes in flight schedules of
air carriers and to cope with new traveling
conditions, as well as implement new measures to protect the health of our employees
and passengers. CSAH also played a significant role in handling repatriation flights
and special cargo flights with medical
supplies arriving in the Czech Republic in
spring, during the first wave of the pandemic, " says Tomas Svoboda, chairman of
the board of directors of CSAH.

" Responding to the uncertainty on the
part of our customers and the drop in air
traffic to a minimum which went handin-hand with it, has not always been easy.
Thanks to cost optimization, business
activities and the good economic results of
previous years, we were able to overcome
this difficult period, to gain new customers
as well as prepare for the gradual resumption of operations. "

With the help of legal options and official state support programs, CSAH was able
to keep most of its employees.
" Our motivation was to maintain the
opportunity to respond flexibly to the
operational needs of airlines as our valued customers and at the same time be
able to participate in new tenders called
by potential clients, " says Svoboda. " In
October 2020, we established a coopera-

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of march2021