MEBAA: Aviapartner and Argos Private Handling merge a success

The Aviapartner Group, which is exhibiting at MEBAA, is one of the leading European independent providers of ground handling services, including for private and corporate jets across Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

“Despite the war in Ukraine, we are still breaking records,” said John Kay, an FBO manager for Aviapartner Group. “In most of our stations we have been beating records; traffic has grown a lot after Covid. It’s quite an achievement.

“The merger was a way of gaining a bigger network and it was a great opportunity to grow in Italy, because Argos had a big FBO network there.”

Barbara Ciolli, commercial director at Argos, added that the aim for the new partnership was to compete with the big players in the market, such as Signature Aviation and Universal Aviation.

“When Argos merged with Aviapartner we wanted to become a bigger group and to look outside Italy,” she explained.

“We wanted to be an alternative to the big names in the European market. We have knowledge on the business aviation side, and Aviapartner specialises in the commercial side.”