Setting the standard

Increasing standardisation of processes in the industry was firmly on the agenda as the IATA Ground Handling Conference came to Africa for the first time. Graham Dunn reports from Nairobi

IATA is reporting progress in efforts for greater standardisation of ground handling processes as the sector works its way back from the peak of the staff recruitment and retention battle.
The annual IATA Ground Handling Conference (IGHC) took place in Nairobi in mid-May, the first time the event has been held in Africa during its 37-year history.

“In Africa we have a range of issues,” noted Allan Kilavuka, Chief Executive of IGHC host airline Kenya Airways during an opening day panel. One example he cited, though not exclusive to African airports, is there either being too few or too many handlers at an airport – creating problems for airlines and ground handling firms alike in terms of pricing.

“On the one hand we have countries where… the government has mandated you have only one ground handler at a location, so that’s bad enough for airlines. On the other hand, there are countries where there are the too many ground handlers at the airport. Obviously that is good for the airline but not good for the handlers because they cannot scale up,” he said. “So, we don’t have a sweet spot.”

Harmonising industry
Increased standardisation of processes is one of IATA’s key priorities for the ground handling sector, alongside the related issue of safety as well as boosting the sector’s sustainability credentials and modernising baggage operations under a new 10-year roadmap.

“We are still facing a lot of challenges in the ground handling area,” said IATA’s Director Ground Operations, Monika Mejstrikova. “There are tighter aircraft turnaround times, there’s a lot of pressure for us to standardise procedures, we are still facing some issues with safety with damages and injuries, and we need to focus on investing into new strategies and development that will reduce the current damages and that will make our people much safer.

“We are really working closely with airlines and ground handlers, making sure they adopt the industry standard that we developed together with airlines, ground handlers, airports and regulators. Trying to make sure that they benchmark against the industry standards and, if they see a variation, they try to reduce it as much as possible.”

She noted that the first year of collecting data shows the average number of variations per organisation has reduced from 22 to 17. “We cannot say this is the trend, because it is a one-year comparison. But it’s great because we didn’t have this data before,” she explained. “Now we are getting the variation data from the airlines and the ground handlers and that helps us to drive more standardisation.”

She added: “We also talk about how to enforce implementation of the global standards. A key element here is audit programmes.”

The IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) initiative is the key tool in this regard and Mejstrikova pointed to a strong uptick in airlines using ISAGO, rising from 25 operators in 2021 to 171 today. “They are using the ISAGO report and looking at the data and using it for their standardisation. We also have a lot of ground handlers. It’s close to 400 ground stations all around the world that are ISAGO accredited,” she said.

IATA Director General Willie Walsh, speaking during a panel debate at IGHC, said: “I was quite sceptical about ISAGO two or three years ago, as I saw very low adoption rates. I didn’t see that the industry was benefitting from [it].”

But, pointing to the strong take-up in the programme, he said: “I think it is only a matter of time before everybody recognises this is the right way to go. I think it is about building up the credibility of the ISAGO programme and it does take time. But I think we are on the right path.”

IATA estimates this take-up of ISAGO has generated savings of US$4.7 million for airlines and around US$4 million for ground handlers through reducing the duplication of audit efforts.
“I can speak as a former airline CEO; audits are important,” said Walsh. “You have to welcome the fact you are being audited because for me it was about identifying any issues and acting appropriately, I was always positive towards being audited. But you don’t need to be audited every day by everyone. There is an important balance to be achieved.”

Attracting talent
Staff recruitment and retention remains a key issue that the sector is still grappling with since so many experienced staff left the industry during the pandemic.

Chief Executive of Swissport Kenya, Head of East and Southern Africa, Racheal Ndegwa, said the key to attracting new young talent is creating more visibility around ground handling. “It’s helping them understand what ground handling is and the great opportunity you can get. It’s around attracting the best talent into the industry, and once you have attracted them, you can work towards retaining them,” she said.

“So [it’s about] being very deliberate in terms of investing in our people, and supporting them in their career development. When you are recruiting, you are not just recruiting for that position, but you are recruiting for a leadership position,” Ndegwa believes.

Kilavuka added: “It is a very interesting industry to work in, but not well understood. So there is a lot of work we need to do to educate and demystify it so people can understand it better. It’s a big industry and you can do many things.

“The idea is to sell the industry to people who don’t really know about it,” he went on, pondering whether it is time to look at changing the terminology. “Is ground handling an attractive enough name?” he asked.

Relationship issues
Perhaps the elephant in the room when it comes to ground handling is around pricing, with Mohamed Hanno, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive of Egyptian handling firm ASE Group, noting that airlines “want the best quality of service, but the cheapest price”.

He adds, though: “Airlines and ground handlers are two faces of the same coin. We complement each other.”

And despite inherent challenges in the customer-supplier relationship, especially for such a low-margin industry, Walsh said the relationship between airlines and ground handling providers is “pretty constructive”.

“When I compare it to the relationship between airlines and airports, I think it is a much stronger relationship that we have with our ground handling companies,” he said. “But we have to acknowledge that this is a brutally competitive industry. The airline industry has wafer thin margins. Net margin of 3.6% or 3.7%, and that’s getting close to what is a record margin, and it means we’ve got to keep a real laser focus on our cost base.

“It is just one of the realities of our industry. Our fares don’t keep pace with inflation, they never have,” he added. “We have got to try and work with one another to make the best of a great industry.”