WELL DONE LINDA REYES

Record dream: In less than 11 months the idea of the airline Eurowings  wanting to run their own Self Handling has become reality.

May 20th 2021 has become a milestone for the Company owned by the Lufthansa Group.

The airline was under pressure to pay increasing rates due to circumstances brought on by their original Handling Company at Palma de Mallorca airport. These increases were such that they passed the financial barrier of paying a third party and decided that it made  more sense to go alone.

A Swiss Company AAS  (Airline Assistance Switzerland) was employed by Eurowings to set up a business plan and carry through their idea.

At midnight on 20 May 2021 over 400 employees of the original handling Company became employees of the new Self Handling ramp company Wings Handling Palma SL and the check-in, administrative staff moved to Ground2Air SL – a Company employed by Eurowings especially for this purpose.

To be able to meet this extremely quick implementation that according to the airport, usually takes between 18 to 24 months, a small group of experts, employed by AAS and displaced to Palma since January 2021 pulled off some amazing feats. This mixed team of Europeans had a local spanish aeronautical expert , Linda Reyes, guiding them through the “spanish way” of doing things, quite alien to this group used to working with strict European laws. From starting with the basics of AESA approval,with a long list of categorías to cover as is usual for a Company starting from scratch in a foreign country, week after week brought new challenges but also alot of accomplishments.  As anyone in the aeronautical business knows, there are 2 main documents that need to be approved before any license is given by Aena, which is the PVSO and the SGS. Usually, these are supplied by the Airline and/or the  Handling Agent prepared earlier in their head offices but In this case, being the first time that both an Airline and a Handling Company open together with no prior history in Ground Handling in Spain, this had to be constructed from zero. Being advised after Easter of this monumentus task and having been warned that the process was extremely difficult and she would be the first person ever in Palma to put this together locally, Linda Reyes managed to pull off the unthinkable and received the approval of Aena on time to have all the contracts signed so that the Self Handling could go ahead.

Obviously, no one is an island and has to work with a team of people to pull all the information together and I am sure that Linda Reyes is the first person to acknowledge this but this does not take away the fact that one of our own once again the amaizing Linda Reyes help to resolve  another dificult problem she  has achieved a tremendous step forward in the Spanish aviation field. Well done!