Swiss handler buys AeroGround Berlin with Friedrich Graf von Westphalen

Airline Assistance Switzerland is expanding its market position in this country: The Swiss company has bought ground handler AeroGround Berlin from its parent company AeroGround Flughafen München. It had previously taken over ground handling services in Düsseldorf and Hamburg.

At Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Airline Assistance Switzerland (AAS) will from now on handle all landside and airside services related to aircraft, baggage and passenger handling. AAS prevailed in a bidding process. This means that the Swiss service provider has now gained a third location in Germany after Hamburg and Düsseldorf, where it has been handling passengers for Eurowings since December 2021. In addition, the company plans to handle passengers at Frankfurt Airport from March 2023. It has also been awarded a ground handling services (BVD) license in Düsseldorf from April 2023. AAS also operates at Vienna, Zurich and Palma airports and employs around 2,000 people. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

AeroGround Berlin was sold for strategic reasons. The previous parent company wants to focus primarily on the Munich market. It has therefore already sold its companies in Hamburg. The timing is appropriate, as AeroGround Berlin had only recently been awarded the BVD license at the new BER airport again. AAS is now using this license to take over ground handling. The license is valid for seven years.

AAS was advised on the purchase by our Freiburg M&A team:

Jan Henning Martens (Lead), Stefan Lammel (both Corporate/M&A), Lukas Kalkbrenner (Data Protection Law), Stephanie Mayer (Labor and Employment Law), Max Fahr (Labor and Employment Law), Peter Metzger (Public Procurement Law), Stephan Fischer (M&A), Julia Schwab (Commercial).