Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam will move the cargo department under the wing of airline operations beginning in March to create more coordination between the commercial and operations units.
Schiphol is the fourteenth largest airport in the world for international airfreight, according to the Airports Council International.
The single division will be led by Anne Marie van Hemert, senior manager of aviation business development. Miriam Hoekstra – van der Deen will step down as director of airport operations and will be succeeded by Patricia Vitalis, who is currently the senior manager process, development and capacity management, and will serve as the new head of the Airport Operations and Aviation Partnerships business Unit.
The airport cargo information platform Cargonaut, acquired in November by Royal Schiphol Group, will also be part of the new Aviation Business Development Division. Royal Schiphol Group said at the time it will modernize the system over the next two years to make it easier for cargo partners to share information.
“Cargo is, and remains, important to Schiphol and it supports the passenger network, making certain intercontinental routes profitable for many passenger airlines,” said Hoekstra – van der Deen in a statement on Thursday.
“Having the route and business development managers and the cargo managers working more closely together will bring more synergy to the way we work and ensure that we can better support the airlines, especially during these challenging times.”
The new division will continue to support ongoing cargo initiatives by local freight community, including organizing itself into a hub for shipping vaccines and pharmaceutical products, the Holland Flower Alliance and
by the community including Vaccines Gateway Netherlands, Pharma Gateway Amsterdam, the Holland Flower Alliance, and the implementation this month of digital pre-notifications for all export cargo.
In other personnel moves, Bart Pouwels, the head of cargo, and Ferry van der Ent, director of business development will both leave Schiphol in March.
A manager for the new airline and cargo partnerships team will be appointed over the coming weeks.
Click here for more American Shipper/FreightWaves stories by Eric Kulisch.
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