GHI FEBRUARY 2008 17 and its global reach. Similarly, the choice of the right handling partner was essential to any long term relationship and in this matter Air France’s Jean Raoul Tauzin was able to comment on the carrier’s philosophy, mentioning the critical factors of safety and adaptability. As he concluded, perfection was the ultimate goal in all this. Ignacio Garrido of Flightcare spoke at length on the matter of alliances, and was able to illustrate the advantages that his handling company has enjoyed through its partnering operation with others around the world. (As an aside, during the conference period, the Aviance board unanimously re-elected him as Chairman of Aviance). The afternoon’s open debate session, as always, attracted much interest from the audience and, as in the past, sadly ran out of time insofar as the agenda was concerned. There were some extremely interesting topics that involved many of the audience and one or two of these subjects occasioned much discussion. A hiccough in the Marrakech weather a few days earlier meant that the original dinner venue could not be utilised but an option was secured and delegates and partners were duly treated to an evening of desert entertainment that included snake charmers, various kinds of music, fire-eaters, belly dancing and even a two-piece session combination, one of whom was actually attending the conference. Food and refreshment were lavish in their displays and the Ramp Safety Awards ceremony was also held, details of which can be found elsewhere in the magazine. Day Two saw the morning split in two, with cargo papers arranged specifically for those involved in that particular sector. The more general papers included lease or buy options relating to GSE; controlling fuel cost through an innovative service; a much-anticipated paper on safety on the ramp and the reduction of aircraft damage (from Menzies) and the whether or not international trade rules could be of benefit to the handling community. On the cargo side the audience was treated to the freight carrier’s viewpoint and that of the cargo handlers, which involved lively question and answer sessions. To round off the event, there was a paper on the European Social Dialogue and its bearing on the handler’s routines along with a paper on Health and Safety, given by a member of the Health and Safety Executive. This latter sparked a good deal of comment from the audience and it was gratifying to see that this topic remains very close to the handler’s heart. This year’s general conference, as mentioned elsewhere in the issue, is to be held in Dublin, and will be a significant milestone for the magazine since it represents the company’s tenth event. We hope to be able to welcome you there later this year. AIR ASTANA-Oliver Mathwich & Elena Obukhova and AMADEUS-Yannick Beunardeau SAS GROUND SERVICES-Paul Van Doninck, LAZARD-Erik Fuchs and AMSTERDAM AIRPORT SCHIPHOL-Ferry van der Ent AERO GROUNDSERVICES-Gerard Kervezee, IATA-Peter Stanton & AERO GROUNDSERVICES-Natasja Angevaare FMC-Lee Coon, AENA-Nuria Alloza Reina & Rafael Fernandez Villasante AXA POWER-Kare Morch Petersen and AIRPORTS COMPANY SOUTH AFRICA-Vinolla Thakurdin & Rishi Thakurdin POLET CARGO AIRLINES-Sergey Katasonov, VOLGA-DNEPR AIRLINES-Alexander Kartashov and AEROFLOT-Vera Kargina

18 FEBRUARY 2008 GHI (Back) GULF PEARL-Mustafa Rammah, SITA-Gerald Smith, TREPEL-Mohamed Houidi (Front) LIBYAN HANDLINGAbubaker Elfortia, SAMAN AIR SERVICES-Mehdi Aliari, AL-MASARAT AIRPORT SOLUTIONS LIBYA-Ramadan Shawesh and GULF PEARL-Tareg Elsahli & Azzabi Khalifa FRAPORT-Ekkehard Franke, CORFINA-Peter Bluth, INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCESUlrich Desel and FRAPORT-Ralf Schustereder AEROVIRONMENT-Daniel Pinch & Ryan Gibson and AIRPORT TERMINAL SERVICES-Brian Wood NASSAU FLIGHT SERVICES-David Wallace, AIR MARRELFurio Rossi and NASSAU FLIGHT SERVICES-Plato Thompson & Ian Mortemore UNITED OFOQ-Haytham Arafa, NATIONAL AVIATION SERVICES-Adel D Alajeel Alaskar and KUWAIT AIRWAYSDr Khaled Mohammed Al-Nashmi & Mohammed Alawadhi PORTWAY HANDLING-Jose Manuel Santos & Tania Meda and ADRIA AIRWAYS-Tjasa Sivec & Dimitrij Berginc GATE AVIATION SERVICES-Antony Marke, AIRLINE SERVICES-Bryan Bodek, GATE AVIATION SERVICES-Nigel Daniel, AVIAPARTNER-Peter Oostenenk & Karel Bekaert WARSAW AIRPORT SERVICES-Jerzy Zubrowski, GDN AIRPORT SERVICES-Bartosz Beuermann, WARSAW AIRPORT SERVICES-Tomasz Szymczak, GDN AIRPORT SERVICES-Anna Lysik & LOT GROUND SERVICES-Marek Pierscinski DNATA/EMIRATES AIRLINES-Tom Lewis & Ismail Ali Albanna, NATA-Jim Coyne and AIRPORT TERMINAL SERVICES-Sally Leible MENZIES AVIATION (NETHERLANDS)-Dirk Goovaerts, SWISSPORT-MENZIES SPAIN-Enrique Fernandez Carbonell and MENZIES AVIATION-Simon Yiend AERO SERVICES EGYPT-Mohamed Hanno, AHS AVIATION HANDLING SERVICES-Uta Kretschmar & Jan Christoph Bruns and UNITED OFOQ-Haytham Arafa SAMAN AIR SERVICES-Mehdi Aliari, MIDDLE EAST AIRLINES GROUND HANDLING-Wassim El Hout & John Abu Jawdeh and GATE-Charbel Ghanem annual conference ghi