STS Aviation Group has announced the launch of STS GSE Services, a company based in Melbourne, Florida, will be dedicated to offering maintenance, refurbishment, spare parts and warranty services for the aircraft ground support equipment market.

Mark Smith, Group President of STS Aviation, will oversee the operations of STS GSE Services alongside Gabriel Girard, who has been promoted from his former role as Operations Manager for STS Mod Center to Director of Operations for STS GSE Services.

“As President of every company under STS’ Maintenance, Engineering and Modification Group, I am always looking for new and exciting ways to create synergies,” explains Smith. “Take STS Mod Center and STS Line Maintenance, for example. These two companies will now have a go-to company for GSE services, and that company will be internally housed under the STS Aviation Group umbrella. These types of synergies not only save us money, but we’re able to pass on those savings to all of our clients requiring GSE services.”

In addition to servicing aircraft ground support equipment at its aircraft hangar facility in Melbourne, the offshoot will be looking to repair GSE at STS’ growing network of line maintenance stations across the US and the Bahamas.

GOL is introducing new self-service bag-drop technology to speed up the airport experience. Passengers of the carrier can now use SITA’s Scan&Fly to check in their bags when flying domestically from Rio de Janeiro International – and will soon be able to do so at São Paulo–Guarulhos International airport as well. This self-service option halves the time it takes to check in a bag and gives passengers more control over their journey.

Each year, GOL flies around 32m passengers. Providing significant reductions in the time it takes to check in is a major bonus for passengers, as well as helping GOL reach the targets set as part of the IATA Fast Travel programme.

Sergio Quito, Vice President of GOL Operations, commented: “GOL has always pioneered the use of innovative processes. Self-service is important for us because it improves the customer experience and helps streamline our operations. SITA’s self bag-drop technology provides what we look for – it is fast, reliable and easy to use.”

SITA is retro-fitting Scan&Fly units at each airport. Using this facility, passengers will be able to check in their baggage in a mere 40 seconds. As well as the units themselves, SITA also provided consultancy to develop the optimised processes in both airports, integrating the solution with the airlines’ and airports’ infrastructures.

The award was presented to Power Stow in recognition of meeting Southwest Airlines’ expectations for on time deliveries, equipment reliability, customer service, parts support and training.

(L to r) Larry Laney, Director of Ground Support, Southwest Airlines and Ben Reeves, Vice President, Power Stow

Power Stow also received the award in 2015.

Ben Reeves, Vice President of Power Stow Americas, commented on the award. “My co-workers and I are very honoured to be recognised by Southwest Airlines. We strive every day to provide a highly reliable product on time with World Class customer service. We truly appreciate the relationship that we have with the folks at Southwest GSE.”

Larry Laney, Director of Ground Support for Southwest Airlines, said: “From proof of concept to the decision of making Power Stow a standard piece of equipment in our fleet, the Power Stow Team has done an outstanding job throughout the entire process. As a result of their outstanding performance in 2017, we at Southwest are honoured to present this award to Power Stow again.”

Hermes Logistics Technologies has been selected as the new cargo management systems provider for UASL, to maximise its air cargo handling and documentation capabilities. Part of the Ultramar Group, Chile-headquartered UASL is a ground handler at Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International airport and sister company of local cargo handling warehouses Depocargo and Teisa.

Hermes 5, the innovative new version of Hermes’ Cargo Management System and Hub Management System applications, is planned to be implemented at Santiago this year.

“The H5 implementation at UASL is a full Software as a Service implementation where UASL will benefit from a fast Cloud H5 deployment that could see the system live as early as the third quarter of 2018,” said Yuval Baruch, CEO of Hermes Logistics Technologies. 

“Once H5 is implemented at Santiago, UASL will have its own, fully integrated management tool that will interface with its local community and customers, allowing for smarter process flows, messaging compliance and more control over key areas such as Customs, service management and revenue accounting.

“We are delighted to have been selected by Chile’s leading logistics group, marking HLT’s further expansion into the South American market and look forward to support UASL’s and Ultramar’s expansion plans.” The Hermes implementation will offer UASL a single system that is configured to its needs and the changing requirements of its growing customer base.

Hermes commenced the global roll-out of H5 earlier this year with the implementation of its CMS at the ALS Cargo Terminal at Noi Bai International airport in Hanoi.