Have you ever stopped to think how much it costs for a plane to be serviced when it lands at an airport, and what jobs are involved? Understand.
The Ground Handling market is a universal market and worldwide the form of service and billing for this type of service is just one. They are charged for types of services e aircraft sizes, which can be carried out on executive and/or airline planes
Within the services provided, there are modalities and rules that are always followed before being contracted to provide the service, for this to happen there is a reciprocity table between the Handling companies and the partner Airlines.
- International Services (departing flights or foreign registrations) – The charge is made in Dollars with an international average, also based on the size of the aircraft, equipment or services requested.
- Extra assistance or services to already contracted Customers – Table for additional services or equipment (Outside the contracted main scope) these values are provided for in contracts.
- Reciprocity Table – This would be a “Reprotection” agreement where a partner can request the equipment or service from the other with equal values for both, and previously agreed on the cost value.
This is the simplest way to understand and how services are charged, here are the rules:
- Handling services – Ramp and baggage service which consists of aircraft service, Load/UnLoad, equipment (tractors, trailers, stairs), cleaning, sorting, connection, Transshipment.
- Full Handling Services – Service consisting of the scope of handling services, plus Check-in/out and LL services depending on the contract.
For international airlines, the company's representation in the country (legally or commercially) can be added to the Full Handling services.
And the values? How much would these services cost?
Let's get to the point, as for estimated values, in Brazil this is a somewhat expensive market to maintain, given its costs.
Taking into that the currency paid in aviation is the dollar, and that in recent times the American currency has been hitting almost R$ 5,50, one can see the difference in markets (Brazilian and foreign), handling services from an aircraft narrow body (single aisle), such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 cost around US$ 1.100,00 in the international market.
Um widebody (two aisles), such as Boeing 767, Boeing 777, Airbus A350, Airbus A330, is approximately US$ 2.300,00, in Europe and the United States.
In Brazil, national handling companies provide these services for more or less US$ 250,00 and US$ 800,00 respectively.
The amount includes all cargo and baggage loading in the holds, external power assistance (GPU/LPU) and taxiing with a pushback tractor, in addition to all ground services.
It is worth ing that the highest cost in Brazil is not the service itself, but the labor that is highly taxed, bringing an additional burden to the handlers, as well as the largest and most expensive equipment (Loader – GPU – LPU – ASU), which are mostly manufactured abroad.
The cost of importing equipment is also quoted in dollars. With the high taxation on entering the country, to give you an idea, a new loader of 7,5 tons of capacity costs around R$ 2.000.000,00.
Brazil currently has around 120 Ground Handling companies providing direct service to aircraft, security and other services, generating 42 direct jobs, according to sources from ABESATA (Brazilian Association of Air Transport Auxiliary Services Companies). This work demands 40% of a flight's operation, optimizing time and bringing quality and safety to all engers on board the plane.
Editor's Note: The data in this article were taken directly from two of the 120 Ground Handling companies operating in the country. For commercial reasons, the companies decided not to disclose their names in this matter, which has an average of the real values of the services.
