dnata last year signed more than 170 new contracts around the world across both its ground handling and catering businesses. According to CEO Steve Allen, 2024 was a “pretty strong year of growth” for the company, with overall revenue up around 15%.
He exclusively tells Airline Routes & Ground Services: “Our wins [over the last 12 months] have far exceeded the losses in contractual terms, reinforcing our position as an admired handling and catering organisation. The time we’ve invested in getting things right truly paid off in 2024.”
In the last year, dnata has continued to invest in two very large projects, its cargo facilities at Amsterdam and Erbil, as well as focus on the environment through its transition to more sustainable ground handling equipment, be it electric, hybrid or biodiesel GSE and other vehicles.
In Dubai, at both Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC), the company has replaced all diesel equipment with sustainable alternatives, while electric GSE now accounts for more than 40% of many dnata fleets in key markets in Europe – a point of pride for the CEO.
dnata will “continue with these investments” and is “working closely with airports” to further electrify its GSE fleets, says Allen. In the 2023-24 financial year, dnata reported that it cut the carbon intensity of its ground handling and cargo operations by 8% globally.
Expansion
The CEO reveals that dnata’s ground handling business has “mostly grown organically over the last 12 months”. The company took on a number of new contracts in 2024 and expanded in the US to Raleigh-Durham International Airport as an additional location.
“We’re continuously looking at new opportunities in Australia and New Zealand from a ground handling perspective,” says Allen. But he hints that market consolidation could push dnata to focus more on ancillary products this year as the group looks to boost profitability.
He tells Airline Routes & Ground Services: “There seems to be some consolidation happening across the industry, and I think there’s a realisation that the actual turnaround of aircraft has the lowest margin of any ground handling service offering. Therefore, it is the ancillary products, as well as the premium and cargo services, that drive profitability – and that’s something we still need to continue to address as an industry.”
At the moment, “we’ll make our money on the ancillaries”, Allen says. This means exploring opportunities to expand the company’s lounge services and cargo operations.
The CEO hints that dnata is already looking at a number of projects across South America, the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East to expand its footprint this year.
“Without disclosing the deals on the table,” he says, “we are looking to expand in these regions.”
dnata’s core markets, however, will not be forgotten. Rome will become the group’s third largest base globally – once up and running – after its subsidiary Airport Handling won the seven-year handling contract for Rome Fiumicino Airport in November, which the CEO describes as “quite a significant expansion for us”.
Allen also reveals that dnata is currently in the final stages of diligence for a number of acquisitions. But the group is not in a rush to expand, he says. The handler intends to “grow steadily” while maintaining its size in the market.
“We’ve always grown through a very diligent process of ensuring we make wise investments that have a good return,” Allen explains. “We already have quite a significant footprint across all major markets.
“The new markets are risky in many different ways. Therefore, we need to make sure we have the right partners, the right leadership, and the capability to deliver a quality product – and that it is not just growth for the sake of growth.”
Market outlook
The ground handling sector is evolving, and airlines’ requirements are too. Never before has the aviation industry been so determined to deliver on its sustainability pledges – and service providers must adapt to stay competitive.
Allen reveals that, today, “sustainability is part of most of the conversations we have with our airline customers”, adding: “KPIs are very much part of every contract now”. He says airlines want safety and quality KPIs built into contracts with penalties when those are not met – and dnata is encouraging airlines to adopt rewards for instances where its handling teams deliver exceptional performance.
Ground handlers must be proactive in both decarbonising their own operations and demonstrating this to their airline customers. From 2025, a number of countries are mandating ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting as a legal requirement.
This, says Allen, is “increasingly going to become a bigger challenge, because it requires quite a lot of administration behind the scenes to be able to report transparently on ESG. That is what our customers are saying – and they need that data from us, they need us to contribute to their ESG commitments”.
Airlines are now also seeking more regional-global deals. According to Allen: “More regional-global deals [mean airlines can] have a preferred supplier that they can have single meetings with to cover multiple geographies and get a sort of discount. I can see this happening.”
The “big question” for 2025, however, is about how far geopolitics will impact trade flows, the CEO says. “We’ll wait and see whether there are more trade barriers introduced and how current conflicts around the world unfold. These factors shape which regions benefit, which don’t, and how different passenger and cargo flows are affected,” Allen explains.
But the CEO assures that dnata is in a “strong position because of our global footprint” and is monitoring these developments around the world. He concludes: “We need to align our business with market trends and will continue to stay on top of these developments in the longer term.”
