Swissport International is preparing for further growth in Japan now that local industrial concern, Marubeni, formally owns 49 percent of Swissport Japan. The joint venture has won its first major customer at Nagoya Airport.

Following the acquisition of aviation maintenance provider SGS in autumn 2006 and the recent shareholding involvement of Marubeni, Swissport Japan has been busily preparing to launch its full range of ground handling products and services. In a statement, the company said that from this month, Swissport will be in a position to offer the full range of major aviation services, concentrating initially on Nagoya and Osaka and later extending its operations to Fukuoka and Tokyo, Narita.