Belgian Competition Council approves the take-over of Flightcare by Swissport Handling

Belgian Competition Council approved (05-Sep-2012) the take-over of Flightcare by Swissport Handling, subject to conditions. BCC designated two conditions relating to Brussels National Airport (Zaventem) only:

• Swissport Handling is prohibited from supplying ground handling services on the airside of the airport, subject to its supplying ground handling services on the landside to the same airline. Swissport Handling is also prohibited to offer a discount to customers that purchase both landside and airside services. The Council said it aims to prevent that Swissport Handling from abusing market power on the airside in order to exclude competition;
• Swissport Handling, nor any other undertaking belonging to the group, is forbidden from holding more than one of the two licenses provided by the government to supply ground handling services for cargo on the airport airside, to prevent monopoly control. Brussels Airport Company designates two suppliers of ground handling services for a certain period of time. Any supplier can enter the market for landside ground handling services for cargo to airlines. Flightcare is one of the two suppliers of ground handling services on the airside under a license granted by the Belgian government. Flightcare is also active on the landside. Swissport Handling has limited its ground handling to landside operations. [more - original PR]