JEDDAH – Libanet, the leading aviation industry services provider, announced it signed a three years aircraft Fleet Services contract with Saudia Ground Services Company (SGS), the Jeddah-based ground handler, operating solely through all KSA airports, to provide a wide scope of services to all carriers serving the four largest airports in Saudi Arabia, namely: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Madinah. “This agreement is in line with Libanet's vision and 2011 strategic decision to expand in the Saudi market”, said Tony Saade, CEO and founder of Libanet. The agreement comes at a time where Saudi Arabia is seeing flights to its country soar, in line with GACA (General Authorities of Civil Aviation) long-term strategy to build and renovate its domestic and international hubs to accommodate a projected 3 years' traffic flow of 57 million passengers. SGS, who handles ground services in the Kingdom airports, is subcontracting its aircraft services to Libanet in the four largest ones. The aviation industry is currently witnessing a growing trend in subcontracting, whether airports facilities management activities or aircrafts related services, due in part to the growth in air traffic, especially in the GCC region. “Services outsourcing in the aviation industry is a growing trend given the restricted labor laws whether for airports facilities, management activities or aircraft related services, which all represent the core activity of the company”, Saade said. The contract signed between Libanet and SGS is a multitask scope one where Libanet has committed to perform services to more than 320,000 aircraft for all carriers. In this regard, during July 2014, Libanet conducted trial night tests at Jeddah King Abdul Aziz Airport for transiting flights of Saudi Airlines mainly, as well as Turkish Airlines, Pakistan International Airways and Sudan Airways. The operations would be launched in Riyadh – King Khaled Airport (KKIA) effective January 1st, 2015, covering 55 commercial carriers, or the equivalent of 100,000 flights a year at KKIA. “This new agreement for Libanet is a further testimonial of the quality standards the company provides, as well as of our expertise in the vast aviation field and the reputation we built for ourselves across the years in the International airports of the Middle East region,” added Saade. Libanet currently employs over 1300 employees and would need to hire around 1200 additional staffers to execute this agreement. Aircraft services means cabins management, i.e. interior cabin cleaning, exterior aircraft washing, in addition to a new service the company is developing: Lavatory Service and Potable water services to short grounding time flights. Aircraft services can range from a 10 minutes transit cleaning that is a particularly time sensitive process, to a full 8 hours deep cleaning performed mostly in the hangar and where all inside aircraft details are meticulously attended to. In addition, Libanet teams also provide cabin dressing and grooming services. “The meticulous aspect of Libanet's services has met the clients' satisfaction and the OTP (On Time Performance) challenges in the aviation industry over the years”, added Saade, “and has driven our expansion due to the professionalism of our teams and the fact they take their task at heart: in the end, a neat environment is also a safe, secure and comfortable one, and conveys a positive and reassuring image of the airline company.” — SG
