Airport operator Flughafen Wien and Austrian Airlines have agreed to extend a contract for ground handling at Vienna International Airport in Austria.
The deal covers aircraft handling on the airport apron, including boarding and deboarding support, loading / unloading of baggage, cleaning of flight cabins, and aircraft towing.
Flughafen Wien management board member Julian Jäger said: “High-performance ground handling at the airport is essential for the punctuality and reliability of our airline customers at the Vienna Airport site.
“The demands imposed upon personnel capacities, the performance of the staff, and the speed of handling are very high. In a partially liberalised market, ground handling is particularly subject to cost and competitive pressure.
“That is why it is even more gratifying that we have succeeded in concluding a competitive and future-oriented agreement with the Lufthansa Group and Austrian Airlines as our main customer and largest carrier at the airport site.”
High service and quality standards maintained by Deutsche Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have helped the airport attain high-punctuality levels.
Austrian Airlines CFO Heinz Lachinger said: "An airline is only as efficient as its airport. For this reason, I am not only pleased with the good cooperation in handling around 370 aircraft/day with 33,000 passengers, but also that we have found a suitable commercial framework for our system partnership."
Passenger handling processes such as check-in and other activities are not included in the contract extension and will be continued to be carried out by Austrian Airlines.
Employing nearly 2,000 staff members, the ground handling segment at Vienna Airport is one of the largest single business areas of Flughafen Wien and handles approximately 60,000 passengers each day.
Vienna Airport has also entered into multi-year handling agreements with German airline Deutsche Lufthansa and Switzerland-based Swiss International Air Lines.
