Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has acquired a 100 per cent shareholding in its former WFS Ireland joint venture after buying out the minority shareholding of its partners, Gerry Jackson and Brendan Byrne.
The venture in Ireland – covering cargo handling stations in Dublin, Cork and Shannon has been operating for 13 years with WFS as the majority shareholder.
WFS serves over 50 airline customers in Ireland, including Air China, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Emirates Airlines, IAG Cargo, Lufthansa, SAS and SWISS International Airlines.
Volumes rose to more than 45,000 tonnes at the three stations, where WFS employs over 100 staff, led by Dublin based general manager, Simon Coomber.
Emirates has signed a new five year contract for cargo handling, and WFS has been awarded new contracts by Air Arabia and Norwegian.
WFS executive vice president for cargo – Europe, Middle East and Asia, John Batten says: “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.
“We wish to thank Gerry for his many years of partnership and wish him a long and happy retirement, while Brendan will remain in his current role as we continue to grow and improve our service offering, supported by the great teams we have at all three locations.”
Batten says one of WFS’s next major investments in Ireland will be a 70 per cent expansion of temperature controlled facilities in Dublin to support pharmaceutical products and services.
Byrne adds: “Gerry and I are proud to see the business is such safe hands and are confident that WFS’ ambition and ability to invest for the future will continue to produce significant new opportunities for both our customers and staff.”
Jackson retired from the company at the end of 2017 but Byrne will continue in his role as president of WFS Ireland.
