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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged for increased adoption of global standards and for moving towards advanced ground handling equipment (GSE) and digitalization within the industry. The move will help enhance safety, efficiency, sustainability, and resilience in the field of ground handling. The announcement was made during the 38th edition of the IATA Ground Handling Conference (IGHC), which kicked off in Cairo under the auspices of EgyptAir.
“While ground handling is usually invisible to passengers, its impact on their travel experience is obvious when something goes wrong. Be it a delay in receiving baggage, damage to aircraft, a mistake in loading, or a problem with turnaround. Such incidents take only a few minutes, but their consequences can affect a whole network. Increased implementation of standards, advanced equipment, and digitalization are essential foundations of future ground handling operations,” explained Monika Mejstrikova, IATA’s Director Ground Operations.
According to the recent statistics on ground handling safety by IATA, there have been no fatalities and only one serious injury reported from ground handling in 2025, among nearly 40 million flights. Standards are essential for ensuring safe and efficient ground operations. The IGOM and the AHM are considered critical guidelines for all airlines and ground handling service providers (GHSPs). As per IATA, there is a need to move faster towards the implementation of these standards, avoid any unnecessary variations, and increase the utilization of audit programs like ISAGO.
Damage to aircraft on the ground is one of the most enduring operational and financial hazards in ground handling, with nearly 29,000 incidents of aircraft ground damage occurring in 2025. However, unless we manage to decrease the frequency of such cases, the expenses will escalate as our industry continues to grow. Modernization, however, involves much more than just ensuring that our equipment is safe. It must also be environmentally friendly. “One of the two priorities is a move towards improved GSE and electric GSE,” said Mejstrikova.
Disjointed data, manual work, and delayed data are still significant obstacles to improved safety and efficiency in ground handling.
“Ground handling processes continue to depend heavily on disjointed systems, manual entries, and delayed data. This gap in the availability of data creates chances for errors, lost luggage, misloaded planes, and the identification of hazards late in the process. Data leads to greater visibility and decision-making,” said Mejstrikova.
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Cargo handler Frankfurt Cargo Services (FCS) has expanded its pharma offering at the German hub with the opening of a new facility. The newly certified Pharma Center has been constructed in almost two years and has increased the company’s space used for handling temperature-controlled goods by fourfold, reaching 3,300 square meters. The center unites all pharma handling activities performed by the handler and allows receiving, dispatching, storing, disassembling, and assembling of whole pallets. “Besides handling loose freight in temperature-controlled storage areas, it is also possible to assemble whole pallets in a temperature-controlled manner and to store active loading units – that is, containers – with corresponding power supply,” the company stated. According to FCS, the center includes two segments of pharmaceutical handling: Controlled Room Temperature Storage, ranging from 15 to 25 degrees Celsius, and Controlled Cool Storage, ranging from 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. “We are currently witnessing an increasing demand for pharmaceutical handling services, and it is one of the fastest-growing sectors in our industry,” Managing Director of FCS Thomas Schürmann commented. He further stated, “I am delighted that, with our new Pharma Center, we not only offer the ideal conditions to achieve full control throughout the handling process, but are also optimally prepared for future growth due to an extended facility.”
There is certainly a spike in the demand for biologics, vaccines, other life-saving drugs, and precision medicines, and they have increasingly become central to the ever-evolving healthcare system. Delivering these across different regions is vital to mankind and requires precision and speed that define the ultimate prerequisites for high-value essentials. With the unique “geographical superpower” of Hong Kong, i.e., the access to half the world’s population within five hours flying time, Cathay Cargo is further bolstering the aviation gateway for the GBA and even the international market by incorporating Cathay Fresh and Cathay Pharma through its Cold Chain Logistics expertise. One of the critical pieces of this strategy is the Air Land Fresh Lane, developed in collaboration with Airport Authority Hong Kong. The system allows creating a clear and efficient intermodal pathway, which facilitates the transportation of inbound goods shipped via Hong Kong to the customs-controlled facilities of the mainland using the same air waybill. The importance of this move is considerable. Traditionally, temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical cargo transported to the Greater Bay Area was prone to re-documentation, delayed customs processing, and cargo re-classification. This resulted in higher risks of exposure to non-optimized temperatures. With Cathay Cargo, it will be possible to avoid such disruptions due to the continuous refrigerated handling from the moment the cargo is discharged from the airplane to its ground transportation. The logistics structure includes temperature-controlled dollies for airport ground movements, GPS-tracked temperature-controlled vehicles, thermal loggers, and chain of custody management by one person in an effort to reduce the risks of temperature excursions while in transit. Besides transport, Cathay Cargo's pharma solution package is being touted as a model to be adopted by others within the region for handling pharma cargo in its regulated form. The facility at the Hong Kong International Airport that is used for pharma handling has been certified by the IATA CEIV Pharma Certification Standards. The facility utilizes near real-time monitoring protocols via the use of its Ultra Track program, thus making it possible to undertake proactive actions when thermal drift or any other irregularities occur while moving and handling. This, alongside an extensive network of over 70 approved drug handling facilities worldwide, ensures continuous supply chains that are becoming decentralized and multi-destination. The coincidence is that this is taking place at the same period as the growth of biotech capabilities of the Greater Bay Area. The areas of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Macau are becoming one of the world’s leading biotech centers in Asia due to investments made in biologics manufacture and therapeutics. For more such news and updates, follow CARGOCONNECT.
In a major move to provide relief to the airlines, the BJP-led Delhi Government plans to reduce Value Added Tax (VAT) on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF). The announcement is aimed at providing relief to airlines grappling with the rising operational costs amid a hike in global fuel prices. It is learnt that the proposed cut in VAT is expected to replicate the model adopted by Maharashtra, which had earlier slashed VAT on ATF from 18% to 7% in a bid to boost the aviation activity and reduce the overall airline operating expenses. As of today, Delhi levies 25% VAT on ATF, among the highest rates in the country, and industry stakeholders have long maintained that this is a significant factor in increasing the cost of airlines, particularly at the congested aviation hub of the national capital. Reliable sources seem to suggest that the move is intended to ease pressure on the aviation sector when ATF prices have increased globally due to instability in West Asia and rising crude oil prices. A major component of airline operational costs is fuel, and any rise in ATF prices impacts airline profitability and passenger fares. Officials also hope that lowering the VAT on aviation fuel will enable airlines to deal with rising costs and avoid hiking air ticket prices in the next few months. Airlines have expressed concern over rising fuel costs and cautioned that sustained rises in crude oil prices would eventually be passed on to passengers via higher fares. The aviation industry has long urged states to rationalize taxes on ATF, saying that India's aviation fuel taxes remain among the highest in the world and could benefit from lower taxes to improve connectivity, drive passenger traffic, and support the long-term growth of the sector. The decision is also being viewed as an attempt by the Delhi government to keep up with other major aviation hubs. Earlier this year, when the VAT in Maharashtra was reduced, it had reportedly resulted in operational benefits for airlines and an increase in fuel uplift at the airports in the state. While it is still awaiting an official announcement, sources said that discussions on the proposal are at an advanced stage and a final decision could be taken soon. In recent weeks, the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict has added to the pressure on ATF prices by disrupting global crude oil markets and stoking fears about supply instability in West Asia. For more such news and updates, visit CARGOCONNECT.
