On Monday, two ads related to the licences, which are about to expire, were published in newspapers and on marchés-publics.lu. Ground handling entails accompanying passengers from their arrival at the airport to their departure or transfer, luggage handling, aircraft loading and unloading, aircraft parking, and flight preparation.
In the past, Luxairport had difficulty finding corporations other than Luxair that were interested in these types of activities. Despite the fact that European competition rules stipulate that Findel Airport, in light of its passenger numbers and cargo volume, should have at least two players for the handling of passengers and cargo.
Luxair and the Belgian business Aviapartner currently hold the two passenger handling licences. When Aviapartner arrived at the airport in 2016, it hoped to attract low-cost airlines such as Ryanair as customers, but failed since Luxair provided better terms. Despite its licence, Aviapartner was not active at the airport since the Belgian company was unable to establish itself in Luxembourg, Luxairport director Alexander Flassak confirmed in an interview with RTL.
However, he noted that Aviapartner was always represented in the collective bargaining related to handling. Flassak also believes that in the future, more than one company will manage handling at Findel. When this happens is entirely dependent on the negotiations between the airlines and those who hold a licence. Luxair management confirmed that they would respond to the Luxairport tender upon enquiry.
Our colleagues from RTL.lu also reached out to Aviapartner for comment, but have yet to receive a response.
Even though activity at the airport has increased over the years - passenger counts have surpassed 4 million per year - it is difficult to make handling profitable. While turnover is high, so are the costs associated with it. Of Luxair’s 2,700 employees, 400 are responsible for passenger handling and over 1,200 for cargo handling.
Because of Luxair’s difficulties during and after the pandemic, it was decided at a sectoral tripartite meeting to modernise the airline. Upon enquiry, the Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (LCGB) stressed that there is a sectoral collective agreement for the airline sector, and that these conditions would have to be respected even if a new company took over handling. While Luxair management has previously touted working conditions as attractive, the airline has since conceded that many employees have left to work for the state or the National Health Directorate.
