Bahrain national carrier Gulf Air has signed a ground handling services contract with Swissport Saudi Arabia, a subsidiary of Swissport International, a leading provider of ground and air cargo services to the aviation industry.

The agreement sees Swissport Saudi Arabia provide ground handling services for Gulf Air’s Saudi operations in all of: King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.

Commenting on the agreement, Gulf Air chief operating officer Captain Nasser Al Salmi said: “This is a positive development in support of Gulf Air’s operations in Saudi Arabia giving our passengers more choice and ensuring greater ease of travel when flying to and from our destinations in the Kingdom. We look forward to reaping the rewards of this agreement and further strengthening our relationship with Swissport Saudi Arabia.”

Swissport Saudi Arabia’s chief executive officer Thomas Bommer said: "We are proud to be able to assist Gulf Air with professional ground handling services. A key feature of the collaboration with Gulf Air will be a high degree of customer focus and innovation that we intend to bring to the operation. We see a great potential for continuing to expand this partnership in the future as well.”

To ready the organization across the kingdom, Swissport International has brought in a sizeable number of ground support equipment and recruited an additional 250 experienced aviation staff, besides strengthening the current set-up with a number of key position appointments.

Swissport International provides Gulf Air with comprehensive ground handling services including passenger and ramp handling, baggage services, operations coordination and load control. The agreement with Gulf Air followed a rigorous selection process and sees Bahrain’s national carrier become the second Gulf carrier to appoint Swissport Saudi Arabia for its ground handling services in the kingdom.

Gulf Air operates one of the largest networks in the Middle East, with double daily flights or more to 10 regional cities, in addition to select destinations in the Indian Subcontinent and Europe, from its hub at Bahrain International Airport. Bahrain’s national carrier offers over 90 weekly flights to five destinations in Saudi Arabia, in addition to regularly providing seasonal frequency and schedule enhancements that cater to greater passenger movement to and from the kingdom. - TradeArabia News Service