Not content with covering only the Americas, Aviaco GSE also attended the GSE & Ramp-Ops Global event in Seville this year, a show which was organized by Airside International magazine and which ran between June 19-21. Aviaco is no stranger to this exhibition, and for Aviaco, benefitting from having branch offices in Spain, the Seville location was deemed a perfect fit for the refurbishment specialist.

The return of the event, which was last held in Dubrovnik, in 2018, had been eagerly anticipated by aviation professionals, and consequently the venue proved to be popular with those in the sector; in all, over 40 exhibitors signed up to showcase their wares and expertise in the famous Spanish city.

Following the Dubrovnik format, selected speakers addressed a wide range of industry topics at the conference, which included the perennial subject of industry standardization (was the progress that had been made in danger of being overridden?), staff training (and indeed, staff retention, in what has been a trying time for those in the aviation business). Also covered were ramp safety, the pros and cons of pooling equipment on the ramp (today’s handler seems much more attuned to the possibilities engendered by leasing and renting of ground handling equipment, for example) and, in general terms, the current state of the ground handling business in the wake of the pandemic.

Of particular interest to Aviaco was the session on the alternatives to diesel engine power. A greener ramp has been on the sector’s agenda for a number of years now, and there has been much interest on the part of aviation stakeholders as to how the whole environment can be rendered a healthier and less polluting place in which to work. Electric GSE, which first saw light of day over two decades ago, is now much more mainstream; in fact, it continues to evolve, with lead-acid batteries steadily giving way to lithium-ion. On the subject of a greener ramp, Danny Vranckx was able to expound on the work his company has been executing in the area where, with the input from XYZ Dynamics, Aviaco is now able to offer GSE that has its original diesel power swapped out for an electric solution. The very first examples of this technology are currently in operation in Italy. For Aviaco, the transformation process is seen as being both cost-effective and environmentally friendly: essentially, a double win for any customer who goes down this route.

Also included during the three day event in Seville was a wealth of organized one-to-one meetings, which were designed to bring buyers and sellers together, as well as facilitate discourse between aviation professionals.

“There were plenty of suppliers at this event,” affirmed Vranckx, “which led to good GSE networking opportunities for us.”

Given the numbers of conferences and exhibitions that fill the calendar in an average year, Vranckx added that exhibition organizers might do well to look at the optimal time of year in which to stage their events; that way, exhibition date clashes could be avoided, allowing both delegates and exhibitors to benefit more.