Translation:
Your Excellency Dr. Sameh El Hefney - Minister of Civil Aviation, distinguished members of Egyptian Parliament, Capt Ahmed Adel Chairman and CEO of Egyptair Holding Company, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,
It’s a pleasure to welcome you to Cairo for the 38th IATA Ground Handling Conference.
My thanks to our hosts, EgyptAir and The Ministry of Civil Aviation of Egypt, for their generous hospitality, and congratulations to EgyptAir on celebrating its 94th anniversary last Thursday. My thanks also to our distinguished guests for being with us today. Your presence reflects a shared understanding that ground handling is not a support function. It is a critical pillar of safe and reliable aviation. No aircraft moves safely without ground handling getting it right.
Ground handling has always been complex. But today, that complexity is growing and the margin for error is shrinking.
We are managing increasing demand, constrained infrastructure, workforce challenges, and rising expectations for efficiency and sustainability all at once.
And this is happening against a backdrop of geopolitical instability that is adding new pressure to aviation operations. Airspace closures, last-minute diversions, and pressure on fuel supply are no longer exceptional events. They are daily realities we must plan around.
Egypt understands this better than most. In recent months, you have been keeping traffic moving under highly dynamic conditions. That is not easy and your resilience deserves recognition.
In such an environment strong safety discipline is the only way forward. And the latest IATA Ground Handling Safety Data tells us that we are moving in the right direction but not fast enough.
In 2025, there were no fatal ground handling accidents and one serious injury. Considering nearly 40 million flights are operated each year, that record reflects professionalism and discipline.
But it’s not a perfect record. We also saw more than 29,000 aircraft damage events and nearly 38,000 loading errors.
These are not just numbers. Each is a moment where something didn’t go as planned. And that means there are still opportunities to improve. And the three areas with the greatest potential are:
- Stronger implementation of global standards
- Modernizing GSE fleets, and
- Digitalization
This is a familiar list. Safety is rarely about one big breakthrough. By focusing efforts in these three fundamental areas we will strengthen the fundamentals to make our strong performance even better.
Global Standards
Let me begin with global standards.
As we all know, they are the foundation of safe and efficient operations. The IATA Ground Operations Manual (IGOM) and the Airport Handling Manual (AHM) are the global reference points for ground handling. They are built with the industry, for the industry and I want to thank our members, ground handling partners, and working groups for the expertise and operational insight they contribute. That collaboration is what keeps our standards practical, relevant and globally aligned.
In 2025, we saw meaningful progress in implementation. The IATA Operational Portal now has over 1,000 registered users, including 280 airlines and more than 700 ground handler accounts across stations and headquarters.
In total, 582 organizations have shared their IGOM adoption rate, and more than 500 have reported alignment with AHM training requirements.
This progress is also being recognized by regulators and airports. IGOM and AHM have become key reference points for operational consistency.
We are also working with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) as it evaluates whether these standards can be recognized under the EU’s new ground handling regulations. If successful, that would be a major step toward greater harmonization.
And this momentum extends beyond Europe. At the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), work is underway to strengthen the global regulatory framework for ground handling and IATA is actively contributing to that effort.
But standards only create value when they are applied consistently. The good news is that more than 40% of organizations that shared their gap analysis with IGOM have no variations.
That does, however, leave significant room for improvement.
In 2025, an average of 32 variations were declared per report, representing 8% of total IGOM procedures. These were mainly related to aircraft arrival procedures, including familiar challenges around chocks and cones. Transparency is progress. For the first time, we have a clearer picture of where differences exist and that data is already shaping updates to the next IGOM editions. And through close dialogue with airlines and ground handling service providers (GHSPs), we found that 60% of declared variations reflect wording differences rather than substantive operational deviations. Moreover, most variations exceeded the IGOM baseline procedures and reflected stronger local procedures.
Some variation will always be necessary to reflect local realities. But any variation should be justified, transparent, and kept to a minimum.
We see a similar opportunity in training. Greater adoption of AHM as a global training standard can reduce duplication, improve recognition of skills, support workforce mobility, and unlock USD 83.5 million in annual savings.
The challenge is to apply them consistently in practice. That is where the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) plays a critical role.
In 2025, nearly 300 audits were conducted under our revamped ISAGO model, which includes remote documentation reviews, enhanced checklists aligned with industry standards, and a much stronger focus on what is actually happening on the ramp, in the warehouse, and at the gate.
Today, ISAGO supports more than 230 ground handling service providers operating across 441 accredited stations at more than 250 airports globally, with more than 200 airlines relying on its audit reports.
It’s helping the industry to execute global standards consistently every day, at every station.
That means stronger governance, better training, and greater operational discipline. Because when standards, training and execution come together, ground operations become safer, simpler, and stronger.
Modernizing GSE Fleets
The second priority is modernizing ground support equipment.
Through IATA’s Accident Data Exchange (ADX) and Incident Data Exchange (IDX), we now have far better visibility into injuries, incidents, and aircraft damage trends. That helps us identify recurring risks faster and target interventions where they matter most.
Aircraft ground damage is one of the most persistent operational and financial risks in ground handling. You don’t need me to tell you the expense of fixing damaged equipment. Unless we reduce the rate of ground damage incidents, costs will multiply with industry growth.
We know technology can help. Anti-collision systems and positioning technology significantly reduce risk.
But GSE is expensive and has a long replacement cycle, which is why in 2024 we launched the Enhanced GSE Recognition Program to encourage smarter, risk-based investment.
Since launching the program, we have received more than 450 applications, validated 187 stations, and recognized 75 stations for reducing operational risk. Adoption of enhanced GSE is not just a safety win it is a smarter way to manage operational risk.
But modernization is not only about making equipment safer. It is also about making it cleaner. The biggest gains in decarbonizing aviation will come from how we power aircraft, particularly through SAF. But opportunities on the ground should not be ignored. Much of a turnaround still depends on diesel-powered equipment. Replacing that with electric GSE reduces fuel burn, cuts local emissions at the stand, and can lower turnaround emissions by 35% to 52%, depending on the equipment mix and electricity source.
At the same time, the steady progress of autonomous and semi‑autonomous GSE is reinforcing the need for electric platforms and standardized operating environments, accelerating both efficiency and sustainability on the ramp.
To support that transition, IATA recently published practical guidance for airports and ground handlers moving from fuel-powered to electric fleets. And some operators are already showing what is possible.
In Geneva, Swissport International Ltd. completed a full turnaround of a Brussels Airlines aircraft using only electric ground support equipment from arrival to departure.
The future could bring even more dramatic change in how we power GSE. Hydrogen is being evaluated for higher-power equipment such as pushback tractors and ground power units. Whether the goal is safety or sustainability, modernizing GSE is becoming a business imperative.
Digitalization
Lastly, let’s look at digitalization. It is key to efficiency across industry functions, including ground handling. A particular challenge is the fragmentation of data.
Too many ground handling processes still rely on disconnected systems, manual inputs, and delayed information. And when visibility is poor, mistakes happen. Bags are misplaced. Aircraft are loaded incorrectly. Risks are identified too late. Digitalization changes that by giving operators better visibility and enabling faster, better decisions.
Let me start with baggage because this is where passengers feel operational failure most directly. When passengers check a bag, they expect it to arrive with them. And if it doesn’t, they expect to know where it is.
Our latest polling shows that:
- 81% of passengers want better baggage tracking and
- 88% expect real-time updates on their mobile devices.
The efficiency gains from meeting this critical passenger expectation motivated our 10-year Global Baggage Roadmap. It aims to improve baggage operations through better data sharing and modern messaging, stronger tracking capabilities, and greater automation.
A key part of that is modernizing how baggage information is exchanged. Today, baggage messaging remains fragmented and often relies on outdated systems that limit visibility across the journey. The IATA Baggage Community System (BCS), a part of the roadmap, will address that by connecting airlines, airports and ground handlers on a single platform with real-time information sharing. The goal is simple: fewer mishandled bags, lower costs, better tracking, and a better experience for passengers when things go wrong. A testing environment is already live, with the first release planned for later this year.
And we continue to pursue the adoption of technologies such as RFID, GPS, Bluetooth Low Energy, and electronic bag tags bringing the industry closer to end-to-end baggage visibility.
But digitalization is not only about improving the passenger experience, it is also about making operations safer.
We are applying the same thinking to aircraft loading. The X565 data standard is modernizing how weight and balance information is shared, moving away from manual processes and toward faster, more accurate digital workflows.
And this is already gaining momentum. Boeing is using X565 for the Boeing 737, while Airbus has made significant progress across the A320, A330 and A350 families including future cargo variants.
The operational impact this can have is significant. Members using digital load control and reconciliation systems are reporting reductions in loading errors of more than 90% along with fewer delays.
We are seeing similar progress in winter operations. Through the De-Icing Anti-Icing Quality Control Pool, airlines now have better visibility into operational risks across de-icing stations, supported by stronger data sharing and a new industry dashboard that helps identify hazards earlier and strengthen safety oversight.
And that model is expanding with the first major U.S. operator joining this winter season and growing engagement with China to better align global standards.
Whether it is baggage, aircraft loading, de-icing, or safety reporting, the goal is the same: better visibility, fewer errors, and faster decisions. And that is what digitalization must deliver.
Conclusion
Let me close with this. Ground handling is often invisible to passengers. But when it goes wrong, everyone notices.
- A delayed bag
- A damaged aircraft
- A loading error
- A disrupted turnaround
These moments may last minutes. But their consequences can ripple across an entire network. That is why we are focusing on:
- Stronger standards
- Smarter equipment, and
- Better data
If we get the fundamentals right, we build ground operations that are not only safer—but smarter, more efficient, more sustainable, and truly resilient.
Thank you and I look forward to the work we’ll continue to do together both here in Egypt and beyond. I wish you a successful conference.
