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ASA Monthly – October 2023

So much is going on at ASA, we want to make sure you don’t miss a thing. From now on, you and anyone in your team can receive the “ASA Monthly”. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like more information regarding any of these topics.

1. Lobbying/Political

• Presented the Association’s view on the potential opportunities and threats of ground handling liberalization to the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) in the context of the Chinese official intent to lift the monopoly of their internal ground handling market.
• Circulated a draft White Paper to the members on the points within the IATA SGHA that ASA proposes to modify. A few constructive comments were collected and included in the Paper, which will be sent to IATA before its next GOS Contract meeting of 7-8 November.
• Met with the Eurocontrol Network Operations Plan (NOP) reps for the first time to include ground handlers, on top of airlines, airports and ANSPs, to predict nods and constraints of the whole European air transport network in the days, weeks and months to come.
• Visited the FAA Brussels rep to congratulate the newly appointed Administrator and require for a meeting in Q1 2024.
• Met with the Social Dialogue partners in Brussels to discuss joint positions with airlines, airports, ANSPs, GHSPs and unions on topics related to unruly passengers, gender diversity and staff shortages.
• Attended the EASA-called GH expert meeting for final comments to the draft Opinion before it is sent to the European Commission, and it becomes a Regulation by Q1 2025 or thereabout.

2. Operations/Working Groups

• Met with UK DfT, ACI, IATA and others in London together with Dave Rogers, Chair of the ASA Training Committee to kick off the steering committee of a Global Aviation and Airport Skills Taskforce on securing the future our industry workforce.
• Started data collection for Q1 and Q2 of 8 members for the SID (Safety Incident Database). The report is planned for sharing in November.
• Prepared a draft template for Minimal Operational Standards, one of the priorities identified by the SB, that will be submitted to the OB at its next meeting.
• Aligned statement on ICS2 with the Cargo Committee and sent letter to IATA’s Head of Cargo on a call for intervention on data inconsistency by airlines. IATA confirmed the problem and committed to addressing it.
• Met with Cargo, Training, and Safety Committee chairs. Will shortly announce Committee meeting dates in November, during which new Terms of Reference and the way forward will be addressed.

3. Events/Communication

• Attended the Bodrum Aviation Conference with high-level speakers from airlines and airports to present ASA thoughts on the major challenges to innovation.
• Attended Interairport Europe in Munich to highlight the advantages of joining ASA to GSE providers and shared a teaser about ALF in Istanbul in October. More details to follow shortly.
• Discussed with legal expert how to protect ASA statute, important for consideration before starting the ASA rebranding process.
• Drafted a 3-year contract with EVA International for the organization of the future ALF events.
• Announced meeting with Heads of HR on 7 November to discuss the benefits of establishing a job-sharing platform under ASA's umbrella for the GH community.

4. Membership/Institutional

• Welcomed the following Members:
  • BASH _ Berniq Aviation services and Handling (Lybia)
  • Vienna Airport Ground Handling Services (Austria)
  • Aviation Services (Bulgaria)
• Welcomed the following Partners:
  • AtlasAvia (Germany)
  • EINSA (Spain)

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