Mr. Tony Tully:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to speak at this meeting. As one of several handlers operating in Dublin, and with around 80% of flights being self-handled by airlines, I must be clear that we are not able to speak on behalf of all ground handlers or the aviation industry as a whole.

While we will outline a number of significant hurdles we have faced as the demand for air travel has returned, Swissport itself has consistently seen good outputs in baggage handling and on-time performance. Some 85% of flights handled by Swissport have left on time or early from Dublin Airport. We acknowledge that this is lower than we would expect and that there is work to be done but we are pleased that we have maintained a stable performance. This has been achievable thanks to the incredible support and flexibility of our employees and the co-operation our customer airlines.

We understand that many passengers travelling through Dublin Airport have had an unacceptable experience over the last few months. While Swissport will always take responsibility and apologise for any occasion where it has played a part in disruption, we are proud that we have managed to deliver for our customers despite some very challenging circumstances. Swissport has put significant effort, finance and planning into our readiness for the summer at Dublin, bringing in over 300 additional employees so far this year. This has meant we have been able to provide additional handling support and requests within the airport, outside of initial programs of work and schedules. This is one example of how we all, across the industry and in government, need to continue working together so passengers can fly with confidence. We have also used the global Swissport network, as the largest provider of ground handling services worldwide, to fly in experienced and highly trained personnel from other Swissport locations across Europe to support the skills and experience gap. There have been a number of hurdles in reaching this position.

It is important to remember that the pandemic had a severe impact on the aviation industry, worse than any in living memory. Globally, aviation was brought nearly to a standstill. Aviation experts across the board predicted that it would take years to recover. It is positive news that flight volumes are now returning but this rapid return in demand, after long uncertainty, has exacerbated resource challenges across the board in aviation. While we are pleased that in Ireland, thanks to a collaborative process with our trade union partners and being able to make use of the pandemic unemployment payment scheme, we were able to hold off redundancies. However, two years of travel bans and restrictions have resulted in many knowledgeable and experienced employees making a tough choice to leave the sector for more stable employment.

Also in Ireland, the newly introduced enhanced background checks in January 2022 resulted in a complete standstill in the approval and issuing of airport ID passes, effectively resulting in no employees being recruited in the first three months of the year. Approvals now take an average of around four weeks but we have found some prospective recruits cannot wait for the time it takes for this process to be completed. Security checks are of course vital to the safety of all airport users but we must be clear that this has delayed our ability to effectively train and deploy new employees. In the UK, we have been able to use temporary escorted passes to enable new employees to support operations and complete essential training. However, this was not an option in Ireland until recently. We and other airline partners lobbied the DAA and the Department of Transport to consider making use of this initiative. It is a key opportunity to provide an immediate injection of critical manpower while waiting for security checks to be completed.

A key part of the ramp operations role is being able to drive the airport vehicles used to transport luggage to and from the aircraft and terminal buildings. However, with the rules brought in by the Department of Transport and the National Driver Licence Service, NDLS, preventing non-EU licenceholders from driving for work purposes on airport grounds, we have a significant deficit of equipment operators at Dublin Airport. With a wait of between three and four months for the Irish driving examinations these workers are required to complete, they will not be fully utilised until Christmas 2022. This will continue to impact operations until then.

These issues, combined with knock-on delays from other parts of the journey, such as security, check-in, baggage, flight schedules and air traffic, have led to very challenging conditions over the last few months across the UK and Ireland. At Dublin Airport we have specifically seen an adverse impact from the significant queues at security, continued volatility in flight schedules and infrastructure challenges. The short-shipped baggage volumes in Dublin for Swissport and handled by Swissport have remained very low and within normal parameters. We have helped where we can to tackle the disruption caused by short-shipping from the major hubs that feed into Dublin. Ultimately, baggage is one of the more visual parts of the complex process behind every flight. People should understand that because of its position at the end of the process, it is often the baggage handlers who have to absorb the knock-on effects of delays further up the chain, so they are already facing a delay before they get to start on their part of the process. This is not to deflect blame onto any one party but a reminder that aviation can be viewed as an ecosystem where delays in one part combine and escalate to cause delays in another part. It is not just about how quickly baggage is loaded on and off the aircraft. Nevertheless, we reiterate that despite the challenges outlined, Swissport’s own operations have held up remarkably well. Our preparations have resulted in us being in a strong enough position to support our airline partners, as previously described, with our staff working extremely hard with these partners to minimise the impact on passengers.

I must be clear that we can only speak for our own operations and remain proud that we have been in a position to provide this additional support at Dublin Airport and minimise disruption. We will continue to work with industry partners and the Government to facilitate long-awaited flights for passengers so they can be assured of a smooth experience.