WFS signs up with ATA Italia
25 / 02 / 2015
The agreement will enable the two companies to provide a full range of ground handling services to airlines at Italy’s major airports. WFS and ATA Italia will also explore other joint business opportunities in Italy.
ATA Italia was founded in 1996 in the wake of the liberalisation of the Italian ground handling market and operates from five locations: Milan Malpensa, Rome Fiumicino, Milan Linate, Venezia and Catania.
The company handles over 35,000 flights a year and has an annual turnover of some €40m.
Olivier Bijaoui, president and chief executive of WFS, said: “This is an important agreement for us because it provides an opportunity to increase our presence in the growing air cargo and ground handling markets in Italy and will hopefully lead to further opportunities with ATA Italia.
“We will offer the best combination of local market knowledge and international expertise and we believe airlines in Italy will find this proposition very appealing.”
ATA Italia president Mario Sisto added: “A challenging partnership and a fruitful cooperation; this is what we expect by signing such an important commercial agreement.”
In September, WFS was awarded the handling concession for a new 5,000 sq m cargo terminal at Milan Malpensa Airport, part of a major investment programme to increase the airport’s cargo capacity to one million tonnes a year by 2020.
Prior to commencing operations in the new cargo centre in early 2016, WFS will invest in excess of €1.8m to equip the facility with modern handling systems and the necessary logistics infrastructure.
The air market in Italy grew by 1.5% in 2013 to 907,000 tonnes and is expected to increase by a further 2.5% this year.
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