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Vladimir Trifunović, Director, Sky Partner R.S.

Ready For New Challenges

Groundstaff work and handling aircraft at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is carried out, alongside Air Serbia staff and the airport operator, by private company SKY Partner

A couple of years ago a private company engaged in providing aircraft ground handling services began operating in Serbia for the first time, at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport. This company is included in all operations related to the arrival and departure of planes from the airport, but also in-flight assistance. Then there is aircraft operations, passenger boarding and disembarking, cargo loading and unloading – an entire range of elements linked to a flight itself. There is marshalling, aircraft push-back, aircraft balancing during loading, supplying drinking water, cleaning of toilets and plane interiors; everything that could be described as being “behind the scenes”.

At the tender launched in 2015, the winner, alongside Air Serbia, was SKY Partner, which received a contract to perform these services at this airport for the next five years. With the State having limited the number of such operators to three, alongside the airport operator and Air Serbia, the third and only private company engaged in these operations is SKY Partner.

Last year was a record year both in terms of the number of flights and the number of passengers passing through Nikola Tesla Airport. What is the limit of your operational capacities?

– Nikola Tesla Airport undeniably continued to record growth in numbers of passengers and we all witnessed that. Growth is also being recorded in terms of airlines, domestic tourism and companies like ours – providers of services for passengers in a key segment of air transport – serving planes.

All forms of development and investments at Nikola Tesla Airport suit company SKY Partner, and we also have plans for expansion and growth

Considering that we are a company with a plan and a very clear vision, we plan all business decisions, processes and capacities in advance and scale ourselves according to the market and goals for the future. Thus, I would not talk about limits, but rather the pace of growth. The pace of our growth is stable and controlled, and we invest in it, in terms of both human and technical capacities.

To what extent have Sky Partner’s standards and procedures been changed or amended in the previous period, related to increasing the security of passengers and aircraft?

– This is indeed a key issue. Like in other segments of our operations, we don’t leave anything to chance. The aeronautical authorities of our country and the countries in which we operate have strict rules that we, of course, respect. However, our company rules and the standards of our partner companies still represent an additional level of security, whether that relates to new threats or regular operational challenges. In our business, there is no such thing as “extraordinary” or “unplanned”, as we really take care of everything.

Negotiations are underway on the issuance of a concession for Nikola Tesla Airport, while the process could be implemented by the end of 2017. From your perspective, how do you see this move of the Government?

– As a company that operates at Nikola Tesla Airport, we support every direction of its development. That goes for investments to date in expanding the capacity of the airport itself, as well as the announced strategic decision of the Government of Serbia to seek partners in order to develop our largest airport more rapidly and with greater agility and certainty.

We don’t deal in politics, don’t have favourites and always want to emphasise that a successful concession will primarily bring benefits for passengers and airlines. Provided it is implemented successfully, we could have new contents and greater comfort, and Belgrade can quickly move towards earning the title of being a genuine hub of passenger and cargo aviation.

As the handler at Nikola Tesla Airport, we will be ready to respond to the challenges of its growth, which – as businesspeople and primarily as patriots – we honestly support.

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