Swissport has entered into binding agreements on 17 March 2023 to acquire a 74.9 percent shareholding in Düsseldorf Airport’s cargo handling unit, Flughafen Düsseldorf Cargo GmbH

This marks an important step in strengthening Swissport’s cargo presence in Germany, with the Düsseldorf set to become Swissport’s second largest air cargo site in the country with around 130 employees.

The two will merge and jointly develop both of their existing air cargo handling businesses at Düsseldorf airport. Swissport said it will continue to explore ways to accelerate global expansion in airport ground services and cargo handling through acquisitions.

“It is a great example of how we intend to partner with airports globally to strengthen their ground services and cargo handling offerings. We see that airports worldwide are interested in talking to us about different strategic options for their cargo and ground handling units,” says Warwick Brady, President & CEO of Swissport.

Swissport handled a record 5.1 million tonnes in 2021. In 2022, the cargo handled 4.8 million metric tonnes of cargo, including 352,700 tonnes in Germany.