As a start up company in 1953 passenger flights were minimal. Where they did occur airport staff would handle check in - which is a million miles away from what it is now. Once that was completed the passengers would be guided to the aircraft where the air crew would take over. On cargo flights load masters would be on hand to supervise the cargo handlers, close the doors and take care of the flight crew. The move from Southend to Blackbushe saw more passengers being handled, but still, little sophistication was needed. Counting 36 heads about to board a Dakota flight to Beauvais is a lot easier than ensuring 336 people get checked in, pass through security, get to the gate and are finally boarded on an Airbus A300 to Palma.
When Dan-Air began taking delivery of larger aircraft and took up residency at Gatwick in 1960, things developed very quickly. For a start Gatwick was colossal compared to Blackbushe, and security was much more important. Blackbushe handled very few passengers for a handful of airlines. As the second largest UK airport, Gatwick would see dozens of aircraft flying all over the world every day. Rows of check in desk had been made available for the many airlines who would now be calling Gatwick home. To process any aircraft required specialist teams. Behind the scenes there is a great deal of activity. From the moment an aircraft touches down, there is a limited time available to prepare it for its next flight. Baggage needs to be removed, toilet tanks need to be emptied, galleys have to have used carts and bonded goods removed and replaced. With that comes the need for catering facilities and cleaning staff. Stairs need to be made available for disembarking passengers and staff on hand to help guide them towards baggage reclaim. Not to mention assist them with lost or damaged luggage.
Even further behind the scenes are office staff in the operations department, whose job it is to oversea each individual aircraft as it jets around the world. They are the ones who have to try to catch up when an aircraft is delayed and organise repairs or replace an aircraft when it has a technical fault. Operations staff are in radio contact with every aircraft in the fleet, wherever it may be. In the early days flight crew would contact operations to organise car hire for passengers whilst en-route. This was an added feature that Dan-Air used as a promotional tool. More often, flight crews would contact operations regarding delays, technical issues or operational difficulties.
Where an airline has a strong presence it is logical for them to provide their own ground handling facilities. In the case of a smaller operation, most airlines entrust their passengers to a ground handling agent, which is either a dedicated company, or in many cases a rival airline. Dan-Air started their Scottish programme using Loganair and for some time at Manchester, British Midland handled Dan-Air flights. In return Dan-Air provided handling for many airlines at Newcaslte, Bristol and Liverpool amongst others.
At the time of the Gatwick move, Dan-Air's own scheduled service network was small. Inclusive tours were beginning to expand and Dan-Air was ideally placed to provide the charter flights. These flights were seasonal by their nature. There was no point financially having a year-round team based at the airport. From the offset Dan-Air had decided to outsource its ground crew to a third party company - Airbourne Aviation. The relationship was successful until Airbourne Aviation merged with Messrs Metcalf and Foukes to form Gatwick Handling. The new company quickly ran into financial difficulties owing to the fact that there were other handling agents at Gatwick. Gatwick Handling soon went into liquidation, thereby putting Dan-Air and other airlines into a difficult position.
To secure the check-in desks Dan-Air had contracted from Gatwick Handling, Dan-Air's parent company Davies and Newman agreed with the British Airport Authority (BAA) and the failed company's other creditors to continue trading under the Gatwick Handling name in return for settling outstanding debts. This was hoped to minimise the additional costs arising from Gatwick Handlings' failure, and to avoid confusing the travelling public - who had already been informed by Tour Operators and travel agents to report to Gatwick Handling for check-in. Dan-Air had firmly stated that they had no desire to 'get into ground handling' - but they were well aware that they had a requirement for additional check-in desks at Gatwick. This resulted in extended discussions about the formation of a new joint handling company. The BAA were keen to see fellow independent airline and airport resident Caledonian Airways join forces with Dan-Air. Caledonian had expanded themselves and were also in need off more check-in desks and facilities. Talks between both parties had made good progress, but Caledonian backed out of the deal following its successful bid to take over British United Airways (BUA) in late-November 1970
As Britain's largest independent airline and the leading independent scheduled carrier, British United Airways (BUA), had become Gatwick's largest resident airline. As such, BUA already had a well-developed ground handling infrastructure at the airport. This enabled them to handle all of their own flights 'in-house' and provide ground-handling services to several third parties. Since moving to Gatwick, Caledonian had used Gatwick Handling for their entire operation. The take-over of BUA meant Caledonian would no longer require the services of a third-party ground handler at Gatwick.
As a consequence of Caledonian's change in circumstances, Davies & Newman needed to find a new partner who was willing to co-own the yet to be formed joint handling company. An expression of interest came from Freddie Laker - founder and majority owner of Laker Airways. Laker wanted his airline to attain a greater degree of autonomy at Gatwick. The two airlines agreed to proceed with a 50-50 share in a ground handling company.
For their part the BAA agreed to award the new company a concession to become one of the airport's appointed ground handlers. This was followed by the official signing of the contract in February 1972. Signatories included Dan-Air managing director Alan Snudden, airport director David Livingstone and Freddie Laker. The contractual period for the licence covering Gatwick Handling's appointment as an airport concessionaire was for ten years. That arrangement afforded Gatwick Handling security of tenure to invest in new ground handling equipment to enable Gatwick's airlines to serve the airport with the then latest-generation wide-bodied aircraft.
The expiry of Gatwick Handling's original ten-year licence in February 1982 coincided with the collapse of half-owner Laker Airways. Initially, this resulted in Davies & Newman taking full control of Gatwick Handling. However, the BAA insisted that other airlines should become additional shareholders to prevent Davies & Newman subsidiary Dan-Air from deriving an unfair advantage from its sister company's status as monopoly provider of third-party ground handling services at Gatwick Airport. (Editor's note - the BAA did not seem to object to British United Airways having their own Ground Handling company offering third-party handling. Another BAA airport, Heathrow was home to BOAC and BEA, who also had dedicated ground handling facilities for themselves and other airlines.)
US carriers Northwest and Delta, whose transatlantic flights used Gatwick as their London terminal as a result of restrictions on access to Heathrow were customers of Gatwick Handling. As a result, the two American carriers each acquired a 25% stake in the company in 1983 and 1984, respectively. This ensured Gatwick Handling's continuity and stability. Both airlines were given a seat on the Gatwick Handling board of Directors.
To reduce its dependence on Gatwick and to take advantage of new business opportunities at other UK airports in the late-1980s, Gatwick Handling established GH Manchester and GH Stansted to begin ground handling operations at Manchester and Stansted respectively. (The former took over the operations of Manchester Handling, an associate company of Dan-Air formed in the mid-80s.
Another change in Gatwick Handling's ownership occurred, when British Airways acquired Davies & Newman along with some of the assets of Dan-Air for £1 in late-October 1992. British Airways handled all of their Gatwick flights in-house and did not require Gatwick Handling's check-in desks, or facilities. This resulted in the disposal of Davies and Newman stake it had inherited in the ground handling company to remaining shareholders Delta and Northwest in 1993. This divided Gatwick Handling's entire share capital between the two American carriers. A new international expansion strategy was launched that saw Gatwick Handling launch its first overseas ground handling operation in Ghana in 1994. The Gatwick Handling International name was then replaced with the abbreviated form GHI. GHI's ownership changed again in 1998, when Delta and Northwest sold out to the Go-Ahead Group. Following GHI's merger with Midland Airport Services, British Midland Handling Services and Reed Aviation in 2000, all of Go-Ahead's UK aviation interests were re-branded as Aviance UK.
As agents for Dan-Air, Gatwick Handling was responsible for
- Representation, Administration and Supervision
- Passenger Services (Check in, Arrival & Departure)
- Load Control, Communications and Flight OPS
- Ramp Services (Baggage Loading, Ramp Technical, Cleaning -Toilet and Water Service)
- Cargo and Mail Services (Ramp & Warehouse)
- Support Services (ULD, Surface Transport)
- Security (Passenger profiling, Cargo X-ray)
In addition to check-in and passenger handling carried out by Gatwick Handling and other handling agents on their behalf, Dan-Air also had offices located in airports that were responsible for:
- Tickets Sales
- Reservations
- Customer Services
- Interlining
GROUND STAFF GALLERY
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nick maxted
Saturday 25 Apr 2020
the young ticket agent is Miss Joanne Price,we both started at Dan-Air on the same day in 1985
nicholas maxted
Saturday 29 Feb 2020
this picture was taken at the Gatwick ticket desk,the young lady in the Dan Air uniform is Joanne Price,to her right is Sie Ian Pedder and to her left is Vic Shepperd