SWISSPORT PROFITS PROMPT CALLS FOR GREATER COMPETITION
The announcement by Swissport last week of a 44 percent rise in profits for the first half of their financial year to approximately 2.6 million US Dollars has swiftly brought critics to the scene, demanding that new licenses be issued to applicants wanting to provide ground handling services at Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro International Airports. ‘This is evidence that the market is being milked dry by a monopolist’ said a regular source from Tanzania’s aviation industry before adding ‘These profits come on the back of very high fees. Look at Entebbe, it is the same thing, one big monopolist and a much smaller competitor with no real impact on anything. Only in Nairobi is there real competition and charges for handling are a lot lower than what we must pay here. We often wonder what deal there is between the Tanzania Civil Aviation, Tanzania Airport Authority and Swissport to keep competition out of business for so long’.
Shareholders of Swissport however are said to be smiling – the Tanzanian government holds a 49 percent minority share in the company which may explain their reluctance to have a competitor licensed – as the dividend proposed is twice that of 2010.
Watch this space.
