Volumes moving into and out of Switzerland have been hit by the global economic slowdown, he commented, although not to the extent seen across the vast majority of Europe.

Moreover, while Swissport has had fewer freighters to handle both in Geneva and in Basel, which does have a large effect on total volumes, there has been an increase in the amount of valuable cargo Swissport has been processing in Switzerland and pharmaceutical traffic has also held up well.

“Geneva, having a lot of belly cargo, does not face the same problems as Basel, where the integrator traffic and particularly the full-freighter operations are much more volatile,” the spokesperson noted.

There has been good news as well. A daily service by Etihad Airways into Geneva is now being handled by Swissport, a United deal was won in Geneva (replacing the old Continental agreement and now covering the joint carrier’s operations through the gateway), while Basel also gained SN Brussels as a new carrier and its cargo is handled there by Swissport.

These Swissport wins, as well as other airline contracts that have been recently renewed, are full “confirmation of our strategy and service quality”, the spokesperson added.