Mishandled firearms, damaged aircraft and unbalanced plane loads are some of the issues occurring at airports around the country due to poor training and understaffing at one of the world’s biggest ground handlers, according to its own staff.
Swissport services Qantas and a number of other airlines, including Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines, which fly in and out of Australia daily. It takes care of services “under the wing” including aircraft refuelling, baggage handling, water and ground power.
Qantas has complained to Swissport on multiple occasions this month after incidents ranging from damaged aircraft to unbalanced plane loads. Credit: AP
Internal incident reports reveal employees at the ground handler are committing more than one error a day on Qantas international flights, ranging from mishandled bags to losing the wheelchairs of Australia’s Paralympians and damaging the airline’s wide-body aircraft.
Senior staff speaking to this masthead on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly said they were concerned about a lack of training within the ground handling provider and feared a serious safety incident could occur if standards were not lifted.
In March, three firearms that were supposed to travel from Melbourne to Sydney were lost by Swissport. Qantas discovered the guns were not loaded onto the aircraft despite being tagged as such and was then forced to rush them onto two separate flights so they could meet a connecting flight with their registered owner. Qantas has since undertaken a review of its firearm procedures to avoid any further mishandling of firearms.
At least 15 incidents have been flagged with Swissport duty managers by Qantas this month, with the carrier demanding improvements on multiple occasions, according to internal emails seen by this masthead.
On one occasion two weeks ago, a Qantas engineer discovered an engine of one of the airline’s Boeing 737s had been dented by a ramp. The carrier had not been notified of the incident until the engineer found the damage, a contravention of Swissport’s incident protocols. Two of Qantas’ wide-body aircraft have been damaged by Swissport over the past three months.
This month Qantas has lodged multiple incident reports pertaining to poorly loaded aircraft and loose freight, which unbalances an aircraft and can cause nose or tail heaviness midair if not corrected. Every flight carries a mix of freight, which can range from standard packages to more sensitive items such as biomedical supplies.
One incident report reveals flammable materials were haphazardly loaded onto an aircraft, threatening its balance and causing a fire hazard. Others refer to cargo hold doors being left open and freight being left on an aircraft for more than a day after it was supposed to have been unloaded.