SWISSPORT REVENUES RISE BY OVER 20 PERCENT IN FIRST HALF OF 2013
(Posted 27th August 2013)
Aviation sources from Dar es Salaam confirmed a rise in pre-tax profits for Swissport for the first half of the calendar year 2013 by 17 percent with revenues in fact reporting a 22 percent rise compared to the same period of last year. This resulted in more than 5 billion Tanzania Shillings in half year profits, an indicator of strong performance in the market inspite of the challenges aviation globally and in Tanzania in particular is facing.
Those challenges notwithstanding has the company also announced that they will be building a new state of the are warehouse at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, with construction due to start late this year and completion of the project thought to be about 12 months.
‘Their performance is evidence that adding competition over the past two years did not affect them at all. Of course those competitors are lacking the market standing of Swissport which held a monopoly for a long time. But in comparison with Nairobi, where there are many separate handling firms at JKIA, our cost for handling of flights remains high and not competitive with Nairobi. You have the same issue in Entebbe where there is a dominant handling company and only one other. It must concern the airlines a lot that they cannot get similar deals they have in Nairobi where competition is rife and here [Dar es Salaam], and at yours [Entebbe], they pay a lot higher charges’ added a regular source working for an airline in Dar es Salaam which operates into all regional airports and therefore has the ability to compare charges.
Swissport is partnering with the Tanzanian government in a 51 / 49 percent shareholding ratio since the original handling company was privatized just over 13 years ago.
