The acquisition of BAS, which has a considerable footprint at Liege Airport, was finalised on 1 March.
It now has 76,000 square metres of capacity in Belgium, with Liege adding to the 38,000 square metre-air cargo facility at Brussels Airport, which includes the Swissport Pharma Center.
By acquiring BAS, Swissport now handles clients including El Al Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Hongyuan Group among others.
BAS will run as a standalone business at first with the leadership staying in place before it is integrated and consolidated into the Swissport brand.
Jan van Engelen, Head of Continental Europe at Swissport says: “This positions Swissport as an even stronger partner for airlines and forwarders in Liege and in Belgium as a whole. Swissport will continue to invest in developing its cargo business as a strategic pillar in Belgium and beyond. In Amsterdam, for example, we are adding an additional air cargo centre, which significantly increases our capacity at Schiphol Airport.”
Dimitri Bettoni, Managing Director of Swissport Belgium adds: “Belgium Airport Services is a high performing company, operating a sizable airside cargo facility adjacent to our existing facility in Liege, plus two additional second line warehouses. With this acquisition Swissport adds more than 40% to its Belgian warehousing footprint, which now totals 76,000 sqm.”