As of October 28, the SAAM fully controls the airport services company Aerosan, which operates in Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.

Aspiring to play an important role in the industry consolidation process, SAAM closed a deal to purchase 50% of Aerosan from American Airlines. The company invested US$ 32m in the transaction, which was agreed last August. After obtaining regulatory approval, SAAM now fully owns the company.

The CEO of SAAM, Macario Valdés, commented, “This transaction will help us strengthen our businesses other than ports and towage services, with a special focus on air cargo, where we see opportunities for expansion and consolidation, accompanied by our operating model. Aerosan is well positioned thanks to long-term contracts and important concessions at airports in the countries where we operate, enabling us to offer importers and exporters services along the entire air logistics chain.”

The airport services company has over 40 years’ experience and moves more than 300,000 tons cargo annually, boasting 33,000 square metres of infrastructure to provide cargo, ramp, warehouse, charter and passenger services at eight airports.

Ross Aviation has launched a new initiative to reduce its carbon footprint and associated impact on the environment. Says company CEO Brian Corbett, “Ross Aviation is pleased to do our part by assisting our customers in becoming carbon neutral through their purchase of fuel with us, and participation in our carbon offset initiative.”

Dubbed “Fly More. Leave Less.” Ross Aviation’s new carbon offset programme works thus: With a customer’s permission, Ross will add less than 10¢ per gallon to all or part of a fuel order to purchase carbon credits under its partnership with Carbonfund.org. Those credits will appear as a line item on the customer’s invoice, and funds will be forwarded to Carbonfund.org to support their key initiatives to combat climate change and improve the overall health of our planet.

At the end of each year, Carbonfund.org will send customers summaries of all the carbon credits they purchased, along with a report on how the funds raised were used to support meaningful environmental change in three key areas: energy efficiency, renewable energy, and forestry.

“We looked carefully before selecting Carbonfund.org as our partner in the “Fly More. Leave Less.” initiative and were very impressed with outstanding work they do as an organisation, as well as their great attention to detail in every transaction,” comments Corbett. “Now customers can take great pride in knowing their contributions through fuel purchases at any of our 17 first-class FBOs can have a very positive impact on the environment.

“At Ross Aviation, we view the drive for carbon neutrality as a
responsibility all of us in business aviation should take on – and we’re excited to help lead the way.”

A newly refreshed line of TUG 660 beltloaders has been announced by Textron.
Petrol, diesel, LPG or electric motive power combine to give the customer a breadth of choice when it comes to purchase and the latest Textron offering endorses the tenets of versatility, reliability and safety.
The petrol, diesel and LPG units are all equipped with 4LHD transmission whilst the battery-powered model is equipped with an AC powertrain and a regenerative braking function. Running on robust Newage axles, these 660 beltloaders incorporate a return-to-neutral functionality as well as a gearshift inhibit feature and are delivered with the company’s Smart Sense anti-collision technology fitted as standard. A host of options is also readily available, which embrace such add-ons as multi-position E-stops, electric belt controls, an electronic shifting facility and handrails. Both diesel and electric versions are built with CE certification in mind.
In line with Textron’s lean manufacturing methodology, the beltloaders benefit from a wide commonality of parts in order to ease maintenance requirements and render the units more economical to run.