IMPORTS and exports of vital cargo supplies including medical equipment could be put at risk unless the Government provides urgent and significant supports for the country’s airport ground handling firms, according to representatives for the companies.
Income continuance and designating the work as an essential service during the pandemic are two of the key requests made this week by the ground handling firms to ministers including Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and Transport Minister Shane Ross.
The main ground handling firms here – Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), Swissport, Menzies and Aer Lingus owner IAG – employ about 1,400 people at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports.
Between them, they handle about 140,000 tonnes a year in cargo.
Roughly 40pc of the cargo in and out of the gateways is handled by IAG, 30pc by WFS and 30pc by Swissport.
Normally, that cargo includes pharmaceuticals, valuable electronic equipment and food. For WFS, typically 40pc of the cargo would comprise pharmaceuticals.
But Simon Coomber, general manager of WFS, said the mix had now dramatically changed, with pharmaceuticals currently accounting for about 80pc of the cargo the firm is handling.
Brendan Byrne, chairman of WFS, said the ground handling companies also needed a deferment of corporation tax payments, a holiday from employer PRSI, and a suspension of business rates and rents in order to protect jobs and ease liquidity issues. They also want the Government to provide a guarantee to banks and other financial institutions so they will continue financing the aviation sector.
“We’re not doing this from purely a WFS perspective,” said Mr Byrne.
“We’re doing this from an Ireland perspective. We are a critical part of this, but the problem is that nobody knows how important we are.”
With airlines facing their own liquidity issues, the ground handling firms are suffering from late payments, which are exacerbating their own financial difficulties.
The firms have also told ministers that income support needs to cover a significant part of the wages of staff who would have to be temporarily laid off.
Aside from pharmaceutical firms, air cargo users in Ireland include companies such as Apple, EMC, Danone and Intel.
WFS recently let go about 10 staff and now has 90. Mr Byrne said training each staff member costs about €5,000, as they need to learn how to handle dangerous goods, pharmaceuticals and other types of sensitive cargo, as well as using X-ray machinery and learning security protocols.
WFS handles cargo for Emirates, American Airlines, Delta and Lufthansa.
Irish Independent
