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Dubai: The Middle East's airport ground handling industry will encounter greater competition and increased service demands as a result of ongoing airport development, rising passenger and cargo traffic according to The Gulf Airports Services Association (GASA).
As regional aviation expansion continues, groundhandling providers will come under pressure to expand their infrastructure and improve efficiency to cope with growing service demands and expectations of airlines and passengers.
GASA, an association of 11 non-airline ground handling agencies in the region, believes many companies will adopt cost-centric operational models in order to stay competitive and maintain commercial viability.
"The ground handling industry will need to evolve to meet the needs of future airports," said Dr Ganem Al Hajri, director-general of Sharjah International Airport and secretary general of GASA.
"A greater emphasis on efficiency and productivity will raise ground handling service standards to a new level to the benefit of the whole aviation industry," he said.
GASA is giving strong backing to this year's Airport Show from June 2-4 at Airport Expo Dubai and will hold its 70th general meeting at the show, where members will discuss the latest in ground handling IT, safety issues, training, best practices, service level agreements and the challenges ahead.
GASA members will join 12 senior representatives from the ground handling industry at the second annual Ground Handling Middle East conference, taking place on June 4 alongside the Airport Show.
The conference will provide a forum for professionals in the industry to discuss issues arising from the projected increase of cargo and passenger traffic at airports across the region, and find solutions.
Some of the key issues to be addressed include a ground service industry outlook for the Middle East and Asia, how to maintain service quality in line with increasing pressures, airline expectations of ground handling providers and the impact of low-cost carriers entering the market.
Three additional conferences will take place at this year's Airport Show - Future Airports, Air Traffic Control and Aviation Security Middle East. The new Future Airports conference will cover issues within the aviation industry such as airspace management, financing future airports, environmental implications of airport expansion, as well as airport infrastructure.
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