The Brazilian Association of Auxiliary Air Transport Services Companies (ABESATA) is celebrating its fifth year this month and its growth to over 24,500 members.
Initiated with five founding partners, ABESATA now houses 12 companies. In 2013, there were 11,500 direct jobs which has grown to more than 24,500 across Brazil in just five years.
The organisation has grown not only in scale but also in recognition. “The association and consequently the auxiliary services segment is nowadays not only recognised by regulatory bodies and authorities but also by airlines and airports, and this is fundamental,” said Rubens Pereira Leitão Filho, CEO of Orbital Ground Handling.
Today, ABESATA participates in most of the sector’s councils and activities, including Conaero (National Commission of Airport Authorities), an advisory forum composed of representatives of nine different Federal Government bodies that work directly in the country.
Since 2015, the organisation has become the holder of the Advisory Board of ANAC and is also connected with ground handling associations in Europe and the US, as well as its affiliation with ASA (Airport Services Association).
Proair’s Francisco Gonçalves says that ABESATA’s work over the past five years has benefited even the passenger. “The organisation of the sector has improved, we have standardised certain procedures, including some operational ones, and we work to combat the precariousness of ground handling.”
He continues: “Our challenge now, for the next few years, lies in the segment’s growing specialisation, as, with the new labour law, ESATAS (airlines of ancillary services of air transport) can offer all types of services on the ground without any type of legal uncertainty.”
Contibuting factors to ABESATA’s growth above 100%, despite times of crisis, included the arrival of foreign capital to the sector, the increasing popularity of air transport, and the privatisation of airports, because the concessionaires came to the market with low expertise in several areas and preferred to contract the specialised services of the ESATAS.
“Over the last five years, we have had key moments for Brazilian aviation, such as the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the World Cup, with unique operational challenges. The ground handling through ABESATA participated in everything from planning to the operational center for real-time decision making,” concluded President of ABESATA, Ricardo Miguel.
Fonte: Ground Handling International
