Menzies Aviation is investing in state-of-the-art telematics equipment at Los Angeles Airport (LAX) as we celebrate over 35 years of operations at the United States’ second busiest airport.
The imminent rollout of vehicle and GSE telematics in the second quarter of 2019 will drive higher safety standards and allow greatly improved levels of equipment utilisation at the station, our largest in the Americas region. With the real-time rostering and resourcing application Workbridge also due to be deployed before the end of the year, we expect to reach new heights of efficiency in our management of both equipment and our most critical resource – our people.
Since beginning operations in the 1980s, we have steadily grown our presence at the airport and now provide a full suite of aviation services across passenger assistance, ground and cargo handling, into-plane fuelling and fuel farm management to over 50 airlines at LAX. We perform 30,000 aircraft turns, handle 80,000 tonnes of cargo and pump 2 billion gallons of fuel to 120,000 flights each year.
This milestone comes at a significant time for our LAX operations, as we recently committed to a five-year extension on our cargo facility lease, providing a base for serving airlines such as Norwegian Air Shuttle and Air China. Our commitment to quality cargo & freighter handling at LAX has seen the renewal of several contracts including the recently announced Air China Cargo contract. We will deliver cargo and freight handling services to the national carrier, becoming Air China’s largest supplier at LAX.
As well as servicing the needs of airlines, we have renewed a contract with the City of Los Angeles for maintenance and technical services at Terminal 6 for the next 12 months, and have established a partnership with Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the airport oversight and operations department for the City of Los Angeles. This partnership is aimed at improving safety and quality for both Menzies employees and airline customers, to set the highest standards of employer practice and airport services.
We continue to invest in our local team of over 1,255 employees, having recently introduced a new management structure and making significant new hires including Joe Conlon, Senior Vice President, West Region and Mike Demeritt, General Manager at LAX.
Paul Walton, VP Sales & Commercial, said: “LAX is a major airport in our network, and business shows no sign of slowing as we continue to invest in our operations at the North American hub. The extension of our cargo facility lease underlines our commitment to LAX, as we extend our relationships with major airlines at the airport. Our new partnership with LAWA and recent contract renewals with Air China and the City of Los Angeles demonstrate the confidence of our customers in our service offering, and the new technologies we are investing in this year will only enhance our ability to support their businesses. We look forward to both sustaining and strengthening our presence at LAX even further into the future.”