AVIAREPS achieved its objectives in the 2009/10 financial year despite the overall difficult economic situation and turned in a good result: the leading international service provider for airlines and tourism companies generated group turnover of 74.8 million euros.

Weaker demand caused by general economic conditions resulting from the financial and economic crisis had an adverse effect on the group’s key operating figures last year. The turnover figures for the AVIAREPS group were, however, on the whole stable and were only 9.2 per cent below the level of the previous year, since all the group’s subsidiaries and offices introduced cost-saving measures at the end of 2008 in order to counteract the negative developments in the passenger GSA business and pursued them through the past financial year. Staff numbers during this period remained constant at over 400 employees worldwide.

Rainer Kothe, CFO and Corporate Affairs Officer at AVIAREPS AG, explains, “Even if 2009 goes down in the history of aviation as the year with the largest fall in passenger numbers since the end of the Second World War, a situation like this also offers an all-round service provider like AVIAREPS new opportunities. We benefit from the fact that in times of crisis many tourism companies increasingly look for efficient outsourcing solutions. Even in difficult times we can still ensure our high quality standard thanks to our flexible range of services. We were thus able to acquire more than twenty new customers and to further increase our international market position in the past financial year.”

In the 2009/10 financial year AVIAREPS acquired a total of nine airlines, two large European airports, three destinations, three hotel groups, four tour operators, a railway company and a limousine service as new customers. In addition to this, eight customers extended their agreements to include new markets or services. The representation company, which has an international presence, currently represents a total of 81 airlines and a further 90 travel companies worldwide.

It was not just the customer portfolio that showed positive results – the group’s growth efforts around the world also saw significant developments: the last financial year was characterised in particular by increased market presence in Africa and South America. In the period from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 the representation company established three new subsidiaries: AVIAREPS PTY Ltd. in Johannesburg (South Africa), AVIAREPS Nigeria Ltd. in Lagos (Nigeria) and AVIAREPS Chile Ltda. in Santiago (Chile). The AVIAREPS group also took over the tourism marketing specialist Cellet Marketing & RP France in order to significantly improve its market position in France.

“Having successfully established ourselves in Asia over the last three years and after securing our market entry in Africa with the establishment of two subsidiaries, our attention is increasingly turning to the growth markets of Latin America. We will shortly be establishing our own subsidiaries in Argentina and Brazil,” says Rainer Kothe, explaining the company’s other international objectives for the current financial year. It is also still necessary to ensure stable growth and high customer satisfaction among the existing 40 subsidiaries and offices and to continue to strengthen the company’s international market position.