Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has acquired 100 per cent of its joint venture (JV) in Ireland after buying the minority shareholding of Gerry Jackson and Brendan Byrne.
The cargo handler said the deal was completed at the end of March. The Irish JV covers cargo handling stations in Dublin, Cork and Shannon and has been in operation for 13 years and WFS has been the main shareholder.
Jackson retired at the end of 2017, but Byrne will continue in his role as president of WFS Ireland.
WFS executive vice president cargo for Europe. Middle East and Asia, John Batten said: “In Ireland, we are proud to have partnered with Gerry and Brendan for the past 13 years because they are highly respected by our customers and have worked closely with us to grow the business to its strongest-ever position.”
Batten added that one of WFS’ next major investments in Ireland will be a 70 per cent expansion of temperature-controlled facilities in Dublin to support customers’ pharmaceutical products and services.
WFS serves over 50 carriers in Ireland, including Air China, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates Airline, IAG Cargo, Lufthansa, SAS and SWISS International Airlines. In 2017, volumes handled increased to more than 45,000 tonnes across the three stations in Dublin, Cork and Shannon.
Emirates has signed a new five-year contract for cargo handling, while WFS has also been awarded new contracts by Air Arabia and Norwegian.
