British Airways signs 5-year ground handling renewal deal with SAHCO

Sade Williams/Business a.m.

British Airways (BA), one of the world’s leading airlines, has signed a five-year ground handling renewal deal with Nigeria’s Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc covering the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Ikeja in Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

SAHCO started providing ground handling services to British Airways in 2020 when BA moved her ground handling contract to SAHCO after flying into Nigeria for over 40 years.

Vanessa Unansohia, spokesperson for SAHCO, said in a statement that BA saw the need to transfer its ground handling contract to SAHCO due to the unrivalled services that SAHCO provides.

The decision to renew the contract for the next five years was taken by British Airways after the carrier did a due diligence in rigorous audits by its international team on all the ground handling companies in Nigeria and SAHCO came top on the list.

Details of the deal show that for the next five years SAHCO will provide passenger handling services, baggage handling services, ramp handling services, cargo handling services and warehousing to British Airways at both the international airports in Lagos and Abuja.

British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, headquartered at Waterside, Harmondsworth, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport.

Basil Agboarumi, managing director and chief executive officer, SAHCO, speaking about the contract renewal, promised to continuously deliver quality and improved ground handling services through SAHCO’s well trained staff in all of SAHCO’s stations.

With the constant investment in modern aviation ground support equipment fitted with the latest technology, SAHCO has ensured that all her clients’ expectations are not only met but also exceeded, Agboarumi added.

The company’s statement noted that SAHCO boasts of a professional team that is versed in the best of departure control systems in the aviation industry for passenger check-in and boarding, and also for load control systems.

It further stated that in the event of tracking lost or delayed baggage, SAHCO has a team that is skilled in world tracer and baggage reconciliation system (BRS).

SAHCO has received many awards both locally and internationally as a result of its quality service delivery in aviation ground handling operations in Nigeria. It is also an RA3 and IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) certified company.

These certifications make the company a preferred gateway to import and export to European countries and the world at large. SAHCO is also an International Standard Organisation for Standardisation (ISO 9001-2015) certified.