Message from the Managing Director

The effects of the global financial meltdown have been far-reaching and it is only over the last 4 months that we have really started to see the impact of these effects on the industry and particularly to the Asia-Pacific region. Cargo volumes have dropped over 11% over each of the last 3 months and passenger numbers have fallen close to 10% - unheralded since the aftermath of 9/11.

The knock-on effect of the super-high fuel prices in the mid part of last year are still with us as many airlines hedged their fuel at prices over 100 USD per barrel and are unable to take full advantage of the drop in fuel prices seen since.

All of this was compounded in Bangkok by the closure of the cities airports for 10 days in late November and early December, delivering a sharp blow to the beginning of the high season for tourist arrivals.

Truly a “perfect storm” of blows to our industry, which has left us all facing severe impacts to our businesses. It is at times like this that the strongest survive and this is when superior service becomes critical for airlines chasing the all-important premium passengers. The quandary is always how to reduce costs but to maintain quality that differentiates you from your competitor. This is equally true for BFS – our position is to strive to continue to provide the highest levels of service to our customers but also to reduce costs to help us weather the storm.

In our business the most vital ingredient is our people – the BFS Team. It is these people who make a difference every day ensuring that our operations reach the high levels of service that our customers expect. Our Team have proved themselves over the two years we have been operating as being able to deliver a high quality product, safely and on-time to our customers. I have received many wonderful compliments from our customers all year but the recognition shown to our response to the airport closure was overwhelming.

All of your valued comments have been shared with our Teams and it has made a huge difference to them to know how much their efforts were appreciated. I would also like to offer a heartfelt thank-you to our customers Teams who have worked alongside the BFS Teams to provide the highest levels of service to the passengers.

We have received a number of accolades this year from our customers which has enabled us to benchmark BFS against other handlers in the region and I am very happy to say that we are on target to be one of the top three handling companies in the region.