Scandinavian solutions at airport tradeshow Singapore

Many Nordic companies and solutions exhibited (among 100 of the world’s leading airport equipment suppliers) at the Inter Airport South East Asia trade show at Singapore EXPO from 15 – 17 February 2017.

They were AirPo Products, Axa Power, Efla Oy, Hobart, ITW GSE, J&B Aviation, Power Stow A/S, Plus Eight System, Saab Group and Vestergaard.

Inter Airport presented the latest trends technologies and enhancements to improve the operational efficiency of airports within the region, which is seeing as well as anticipates tremendous growth in air traffic in the coming two to three decades. This draws attention from tried-and-tested solutions providers as well as new innovative solutions for efficiency

The exhibition featured a specialised GSE area featuring the best Ground Support Equipment available, in addition to equipment and services associated with the operations of terminals, ATC, and cargo facilities.

One such innovation now out to grow within the high growth Asian region is Power Stow A/S from Denmark. Their single product is the Power Stow Rollertrack – a unique and flexible extension integrated into a belt loader.

Constant product development and engineering are the main components in this very reliable and cost-effective extendable belt loader system, which has given Power Stow its position as market leader.

Power Stow is a separate business started by one of the Vestergaard family members and developed from scratch since 2003, and with 600 units of their sophisticated system in use worldwide.

This solution helps ground-handling companies’ load and unload baggage and cargo faster and more efficiently, while improving working conditions for their staff.

Its main purpose is to save on manpower, said Thomas Andersen, Vice President of Marketing and Sales Asia at the trade show.

“If you a load manually load you will have 2-3 people inside the hull of the plane, while we need only one, and only two operate. For manual belt loading they will probably use 4-5 people, so it’s cutting down manpower. And it reduces injuries on your body from lifting and throwing bags in a very difficult environment. Also, damages to bags are reduced. And with less manpower we can do a faster turnaround on flights, which is not insignificant at all,”

Using Power Stow reduces turnaround times of up to 30% and there are 50% fewer back and shoulder injuries as a result. Damage to baggage and floor is drastically reduced, as bags no longer need to be thrown.

It’s a unique product – we have hardly any competition – and you can say that it‘s a niche market. There are a few products that try to do similar things but we are in a unique selling point position of a unique product.”

Targets are airports, airlines and ground service companies.

“It’s a cultural thing; in Europe it’s very much ground service companies. In some airports in America it’s only airlines. Here in Asia we have a mixture of the three, depending on the culture you have.”

Thomas Andersen’s job is to repeating the American success that they experienced. Their Hong Kong office opened in August 2016 and is now expanding with one area sales and local person.

Power Stow attended Inter Airport SEA to be seen and build on their huge reference base and to showcase their high-end quality. Their customer base includes American Airlines, Southwest, KLM, Swissport, Menzies and other global ground handling companies and airports.

“We want to make sure that prospects have a chance to know about us, and have the comparison.  And one of our biggest discussions is always about price, because we are talking about an expensive product made in Europe. So we always have to look at total cost of ownership and really make sure to show the client that the long running hours and that the maintenance is straightforward of this quality product. And then you have to calculate cost of manpower and all the other parameters that we sell on and give a business case to the client. Even in Asia where manpower cost is less we still see a business case.”

Thomas also pointed to that no one will lose their job dues to using Power Stow, since there are plenty of other jobs for them to do at airports. South East Asia is currently recording some of the best economic growth rates in the world, and is also forecasted as the fastest growing aviation market over the next twenty years.

Mr Daniel Ng, Director of Aviation Industry of Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS, said at the opening ceremony: “Increasingly, technology and automation are becoming important themes, as airports seek to become more efficient amid rising labour cost, larger traffic volumes and shortage of manpower. CAAS and Changi Airport works closely with various stakeholders, such as airlines and ground handlers, to accelerate the adoption of technology for airport-wide programmes that would benefit the airport community and enhance passenger experience. Events like inter airport South East Asia are important as they provide a platform for new ideas and technology to be showcased”.

Mr Michael Wilton, Exhibition Director for organiser Mack Brooks Exhibitions Asia Ltd, said, “The rising demand for air travel across the region is an overriding trend. This creates the need to continuously develop airports across the whole region. The exhibition serves this need and supports the industry to achieve growth.”

The narrow body aircraft type that Power Stow is being used for is the one with biggest growth in Asia, so the future seems bright for the Danish company.

“Globally we have a market potential of up to 7000 units so we have only touched ten per cent and the market share of this narrow body aircraft type is still increasing,” said Thomas.