Dnata buys into cargo and ground handling services at Toronto Pearson airport

Above, Air Canada aircraft parked at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Mark Blinch / Reuters

Dnata, part of Emirates Group, has made its first move into Canada, buying a 50 per cent stake in the cargo and ground handling operations at Toronto Pearson International Airport from GTA Aviation.

The new company will be called GTA dnata. Its customers include Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Cargojet, China Southern Airlines, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Fly Jamaica, Korean Air, Swiss and WestJet.

The price of the deal was not released.

Dnata is the world’s fourth-largest air services company involved in the full spectrum from aircraft ground handling, cargo, travel and flight catering services. Dnata’s move into Canada completes a third acquisition in the Americas in the past 12 months.

It took a majority stake in Brazil’s RM Ground Services covering 26 airports in November last year and a 100 per cent stake in US-based Ground Services International, covering 25 airports in May of this year. “It’s not a massive investment,” said Stewart Angus, dnata’s divisional senior vice president of international airport operations. He said GTA only started the business in 2014 so dnata was buying in at an early stage of the business.

GTA has 130 employees serving more than 1,400 flights and handling 58,000 tonnes of cargo each year.

“We are now in the three biggest areas in the Americas for air flight. North America is very resilient and is the fastest-growing market at present, and while growth in Asia and Australia is slowing, it is a very stable business.” Dnata said it hopes to differentiate itself by ensuring a quality service that trumps all other players on all metrics by ensuring a punctual turnaround of aircraft and a reliably speedy baggage return.

For the year to September, dnata’s cargo volume is up by 4.5 per cent compared with the same period last year.

In September, air cargo demand in the Middle East slowed to its lowest rate in seven years amid increasing capacity, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

Demand rose by 1.2 per cent year-on-year for Middle East carriers, while their freight capacity increased by 6.2 per cent year-on-year, the trade association said.

Globally, cargo demand grew by 6.1 per cent year-on-year in September and freight capacity increased by 4.7 per cent.

North America has experienced a consolidation in the air service business in the past five years. Most airlines subcontract the air services – the disembarking of passengers, cargo and baggage – and with fewer players in the game and yield pressures air services have become commoditised.

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