Avinor and WFS terminate Oslo seafood centre deal
Norwegian airport operator Avinor and Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) have terminated the deal to construct a new seafood centre at Oslo Airport. Construction of the centre, which was going to have the capacity to handle up to 250,000 tonnes of seafood annually, was supposed to commence in April 2019 with the opening date given as […]
WFS to support ABC’s growth plans at Liege Airport
AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has chosen Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) as its handling partner at Liege Airport ahead of the opening of the first phase of its cargo area at the end of 2019. The cooperation is in support of the strategic partnership signed between ABC’s parent company, Volga-Dnepr Group and Liege, boosting the airline’s volumes […]
WFS and Swiss WorldCargo open GDP facility at JFK
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) and Swiss WorldCargo have opened New York’s first GDP compliant pharma facility having achieved certification of Building 66 at JFK airport. The GDP certification at John F. Kennedy International Airport confirms WFS’s compliance with World Health Organization, IATA and Parenteral Drug Association quality standards for handling pharmaceutical and life science products, […]
WFS picks up 3 year contract with Qantas at DFW
Qantas has awarded Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) with a three-year contract at Dallas Fort/Worth International Airport covering passenger operations, cargo and ramp handling. The Australian flag carrier operates seven Airbus A380 passenger flights a week from Dallas to Sydney as well as a weekly Boeing 747-400 Freighter service. WFS’s client base at Dallas/Fort Worth includes […]
Little sunshine in the land of the yellow vests
France has been a troubled country lately, writes Chris Lewis. After a bright enough start, following his election victory, with President Macron’s labour market reforms getting ensnared in the ‘Gilets Jaunes’ protests towards the end of last year; economic growth is expected to fall to an unimpressive 1.7% for 2018. It remains to be seen […]
WFS men step up to the plate
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has given new leadership roles to two of its senior executives in the Americas. Mike Duffy and Mike Simpson (pictured) will become executive vice president innovation and executive vice president Americas respectively, reporting to CEO, Craig Smyth. Taking up his new role in April, Mike Duffy will use his cargo and […]
Handler WFS renews Heathrow lease
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has renewed its lease on two airside units totalling 140,000 sq ft at the Segro-managed Heathrow Cargo Centre. WFS, the world’s largest cargo-handling organisation, has signed five-year leases for 551 and 552 Shoreham Road, with 60,000 sq ft and 80,000 sq ft of space respectively. Steven Greenhalgh, WFS finance director said: […]
WFS to build new pharma facility in Copenhagen
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) will invest in a state-of-the-art pharma facility at Copenhagen Airport, covering an area of 1,500 square metres. Construction will begin in April, and the new building will provide end-to-end handling in a temperature-controlled environment for 2-8C pharma products incorporating acceptance, offload, pre-storage, build-up and storage. Accessible through four dedicated cargo doors, […]
WFS opens doors to Brussels Airport logistics centre
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has opened an ultra-modern 8,700 m2 logistics building Brussels Airport, eight months after laying the first stone. On 1 February, Brussels Airport Company, WFS and developer Montea inaugurated the logistics building to the west of the airport’s cargo zone. The new building is part of an ambitious development project within Brussels’ […]
WFS awarded IATA CEIV Pharma at Schiphol
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has gained IATA CEIV Pharma certification for its pharmaceutical handling facilities at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. At Schiphol, WFS provides dedicated temperature-controlled facilities for pharma products requiring both 2-8C and 15-25C environments. In preparation for its CEIV audit, WFS carried out a risk analysis and updated its quality management system and operating […]
WFS to handle cargo at nine airports for Air Europa
Air Europa has selected Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) as its cargo handling partner at nine European airports including its hub in Madrid. The three-year contract gives WFS responsibility for handling cargo in Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, Milan Malpensa and Madrid. Cargo will be handled on more […]
WFS to handle cargo for Lufthansa at Schiphol
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) will start handling cargo for Lufthansa Cargo at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on 1 February 2019. The new contract will see WFS handle around 30,000 tonnes per annum, serving the airline’s trucked and flown volumes. WFS already handles over 220,000 tonnes per annum for 70 airline customers at Schiphol, and expects to […]
Watson joins WFS group commercial cargo team
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has appointed Duncan Watson as vice president – group commercial cargo, based at the head office in Roissy, Paris. Watson brings 30 years of experience to WFS having spent 18 years at DHL with local, regional and global commercial responsibilities before joining Emirates, where he worked for 11 years and ultimately […]
American Airlines Cargo shows off Milan Malpensa facility
American Airlines Cargo has shown off its new facility at Milan Malpensa Airport, with customers from across Italy viewing the 53,000 square foot building. The building handles the airline’s daily flights to New York and Miami and growing cargo volumes from northern Italy have increased customer demand for direct services out of Italy. Frequently shipped […]
WFS invests in new cargo terminal at Milan Malpensa
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has invested in a new cargo terminal at Milan Malpensa Airport capable of handling over 47,000 tonnes a year. Malpensa is WFS’s first cargo handling facility in Italy, where it previously only operated offices to provide documentation and cargo operations supervision services for American Airlines and China Cargo Airlines. American Airlines […]
WFS to handle cargo for Thai Airways in UK and Ireland
Thai Cargo has awarded Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) a five-year cargo handling contract in the UK and Ireland, starting 1 September. WFS will provide handling for Thai’s double daily Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 from London Heathrow to Bangkok as well as regional cargo handling across its UK and Ireland stations and trucking network connecting […]
WFS to operate new seafood centre at Oslo Airport
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) and Sjømatterminalen have signed an MOU to operate the Seafood Centre at Oslo Airport, which will handle up to 250,000 tons a year. Norway accounts for half of the air cargo generated in the Nordic region, and Oslo was the fastest growing cargo airport in Europe with 36 per cent. Of […]
60 seconds with John Batten
A record business as a teenager resulted in a career in the air cargo industry lasting over 35 years across the express, airline and cargo handling sectors. He joined WFS in 2015, taking the role of EVP for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2017. He spoke to Air Cargo Week about how the […]
Cerberus Capital Management enters deal to acquire WFS
Cerberus Capital Management has entered into an agreement to acquire handling agent Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) from Platinum Equity. Founded in 1992, Cerberus specialises in alternative investing with approximately $34 billion in assets across complementary credit, private equity, and real estate strategies. Paris-headquartered WFS is the world’s largest air cargo handler and provider of ground […]
Brussels Airport launches first app using blockchain technology
Brussels Airport has launched its first application using blockchain technology, marking the next step in the Landsite Management tool it is developing with stakeholders at BRUcargo. The app will closely cooperate with existing apps such as the Slot Booking App, or future apps yet to be developed. The focus of the next phase is to […]
Singapore Airlines renews cargo handling contracts with WFS
Singapore Airlines has renewed its cargo handling contracts with Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in Paris and London. In France, where the companies have worked together since 1986, WFS provides handling services for the airline’s daily Airbus A380 flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle as well as offline cargo reception points, handling and domestic trucking at […]
WFS picks up new airline contracts across Scandinavia
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) is continuing to grow its product portfolio in Scandinavia with three new airline cargo handling contracts in Denmark and Sweden. In Copenhagen, WFS is now handling 10 Boeing 737 flights a week for Ukraine International Airlines to Kiev, Ukraine’s capital city. WFS provides cargo handling services to 25 online airlines in […]
WFS earns new contracts with five airlines in the US
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has signed up five airlines for passenger, ramp and cargo handling services across the US. WOW Air has picked WFS to provide ramp, passenger and cargo services for its three Airbus A330-300 flights a week from Dallas Fort Worth to Keflavik International Airport, serving Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik. The three-year contract […]
Meanwhile, in a small corner of France…
Investments in temperature-controlled facilities are not confined only to the world’s major hubs, writes Neil Madden. Last year, Entzheim Airport, which serves the city of Strasbourg in north-eastern France, opened a 700 square metre temperature- controlled warehouse, operated by WFS, primarily to capture the growing pharma market. Still lacking a critical mass of belly capacity, […]
WFS takes full ownership of former Irish joint venture
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has acquired a 100 per cent shareholding in its former WFS Ireland joint venture after buying out the minority shareholding of its partners, Gerry Jackson and Brendan Byrne. The venture in Ireland – covering cargo handling stations in Dublin, Cork and Shannon has been operating for 13 years with WFS as […]
WFS picks up Air China and Royal Jordanian contracts in Copenhagen
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has picked up new contracts with Air China and Royal Jordanian Airlines at Copenhagen Airport. On 30 May, WFS will begin handling cargo on board Air China’s five Airbus A330 flights a week connecting the Danish capital with Beijing Capital International Airport. It expects to handle around 10 tonnes on each […]
Brussels Airport’s slot booking app gains eight new members
Brussels Airport’s cloud based data sharing platform, BRUcloud has had a successful first two months with eight more companies using the application in their live operations. The slot booking app eliminates the problem of waiting and idle times at ground handling facilities by coordinating the match between supply and demand of time slots, streamlining the […]
Cathay Pacific picks WFS for cargo handling in Brussels and Copenhagen
Cathay Pacific Cargo has awarded cargo handling contracts to Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in Brussels and Copenhagen. The Hong Kong airline has signed a three year contract for WFS to provide handling for its direct service to Brussels, which started on 25 March. The Brussels route will operate four times a week transporting passengers and […]
Qatar Airways extends cargo handling contract with WFS in Paris
Qatar Airways Cargo has extended its cargo handling contract with Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. In addition to cargo handling services, WFS will now provide ramp transportation for the airline, moving cargo to and from the warehouse and the aircraft operating Qatar Airways’ three flights a day from Paris to […]
Brussels Airport looks at new ways of working
The downside of a newly invigorated air cargo market has become evident, according to Brussels Airport head of cargo and logistics Steven Polmans (pictured), writes Neil Madden. “Problems and congestion seen in Europe in recent months due to strong market growth have shown up once again,” he tells Air Cargo Week. “In order to make […]
