ASE Group broadens its outlook

“There are still some small day to day problems in the public sector,” says Hanno of the unrest that we saw in Eqypt at the beginning of the year during the Arab Spring, “but, in general, we’re getting to the right place.” He is emphatic, however, that whatever was going on politically, ASE never stopped working. “During these periods we re-arranged ourselves, seeking better business development and looking at improving the things we have done in the past,” he says.

Of course, ASE is a network that has been built across three territories over more than 20 years and beyond through its business associates. ASE – Egypt was established in 1989, followed by ASE – Morocco in 1998 and by 2008 UAE became the third branch.

One area that Hanno is passionate about throughout his network is ISAGO. “ISAGO is something we have done from the very beginning,” he says. “We’re one of the few companies that started the ISAGO programme and we were involved in putting in place the ISAGO standards together with IATA,  other ground handlers and airlines . We truly believe in ISAGO.

“That’s why its corporate headquarters and the main five airports (CAI, HRG, SSH, LXR, HBE) in Egypt that ASE serves are ISAGO registered. ISAGO is also present in Morocco at our head office in Agadir as well as at Agadir Airport and Marrakesh Airport. We have requested that, in 2012, we will be ISAGO registered in Tangier and two other Moroccan airports. Soon, we will have the renewal of Agadir and Marrakesh.”

So, in practice, what does it mean for ASE to go through this audit process? Hanno responds: “For us it was a little bit easier because we took it step by step. At the first step we started with AHM 804 which was a measurement of our work and standards. Then we took the ISO standards. The important thing is not preparing documents, arranging manuals or putting things into order. It takes time but it can be done. The important thing is to train people to believe in what they are doing and that is what we have done.”

The work on quality and procedures is clearly paying off. In July 2011, ASE – Egypt received “The Majestic Five Continents Award for Quality and Excellence” in Rome. The accolades are starting to roll in and the hard work is paying off.

When asked whether the shape of the organisation has changed, Hanno responds: “Yes. In 2009 we started operations at Assiut Airport in Upper Egypt, midway between Cairo and Luxor. This was a new operation for us. We started there with nasair, a Saudi Arabian airline, and flydubai, from the UAE. We handle one flight per day for each airline and sometimes during peak seasons, two to three flights.”

In late 2010 ASE’s Service Delivery Unit at Alexandria Airport started handling flydubai, followed by nasair flights at the new Borg El-Arab airport, which is located around 45km from Alexandria City Centre. In January 2011, ASE established a new Service Delivery Unit at Sohaq or HMB (Hosni Mubarak International Airport) where ASE handles all of the nasair and flydubai flights.

ASE has also opened a new training centre for both internal and third-party training. It is in the process to be an IATA affiliated regional training centre, ASE – Aviation Services Education, says Hanno. The centre is due to open this autumn in Casablanca, Morocco. “The mission of this training centre is to deliver a priceless quality of services in training and consultancy with a price efficient strategy to serve the aviation and tourism industries,” comments Hanno.

But ASE is not fixed on the territories of Morocco, Egypt and UAE. “We are planning to go within Africa and maybe some European countries too,” says Hanno, adding that the west coast of Africa, the east coast and the centre of the continent are all under review.

So when ASE goes into a new territory, what does it set up first? Hanno responds: “We will try to do what we are most specialised in which is passenger handling and then we will start looking at ramp handling. Really, if we have the ability to open both passenger handling and ramp handling, we will certainly do that together.”

Internally, there are investments being made to the existing business too. IT systems at ASE are being overhauled – an ERP system is being installed which will be complete by the beginning of 2012. A letter of agreement is also signed with Amadeus for the Altéa ground handling module. “We will be the first ground handlers in Africa and the Middle East to have Amadeus Altéa,” he says.

All this is great news for a company that suffered huge business interruption at the beginning of the year. In February 2011, traffic decreased to just 5% of the usual volumes –that traffic just represented evacuation flights. By March, traffic had risen to 20% of expected levels. “At the very end, people were sorry to leave but they had to. Some people have contacted us to say that they have come back. In general I would say that traffic is going up and back to normal for us. From 5% of traffic in February and then 20% in March and now we are at 85%-90%.”

Today, ASE is very involved now in designing the IATA Ground Operations Manual (IGOM). “We are working very hard. The IGOM Chapter 1 working group on passenger handling took place here in Cairo,” says Hanno. “The aim of IGOM is to eliminate the need for each airline to maintain its own manual and to give ground services providers a standard set of procedures to apply across all aircraft and airlines.” Hanno’s team is also actively involved in the Aviation Ground Services Agreements Working Group and the Airside Safety Group which both meet twice a year.

As ASE achieves its aims both throughout its own network and for the benefit of the industry as a whole, the Egyptian ground handler is also taking the time to build a new home. The handler plans to move into its new headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, in 2012 from where it will chart the next stage of its growth.