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Jan 12, 2023 (newstodate): Swissport is to close down its ground handling business at Helsinki Airport after having lost the tender for ground handling of Finnair's long-haul fleet.
   The current contract with Finnair expires by April 2023, cuting one-third off Swissport's total business in Finland.
   Finnair has so far not revealed the outcome of the recent tender:
   -As this point, we don’t have any news to share. Currently, we have three different ground handling partners at Helsinki Airport, and Swissport continues until the end of the contract, says a Finnair communications spokesman.
   A strong potential contender for the contract with Finnair might be Aviator, that provides Finnair with ground handling services for the airline's Airbus A320 narrow-body and earlier handled also the wide-body fleet at Finnair's hub until March 2021, when the contract returned to Swissport.  
    With Finnair as its launch customer for baggage and apron services at Helsinki Airport under a five-year contract, Swissport launched handling services in the Finnish market from December 1, 2011.
   Through an extensive portfolio of aviation ground services, Swissport, with Markus Vahtera as its Managing Director Finland, now provides hub management at Finnair's home base, including passenger services, ramp handling, and aircraft de-icing.   
   Swissport also manages two cargo centers in Helsinki Airport, including the Finnair Cargo COOL warehouse, and operates the ASPIRE lounge at Helsinki Airport.
   Starting from October 1, 2022, Swissport furthermore took over the fueling business of Shell Aviation as well as a customer portfolio including Finnair, Japan Airlines, Ryanair, Qatar Airways, Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Juneyao Air, and the Danish charter carrier Sunclass Airlines.