Christophe Le Borgne

In October 2014, Adrian Melliger (Head of Swissport Western Europe – UK, FR, Belgium, Spain, Malta, Bulgaria) and I bought Swissport Fr (after Swissport International (SPI) decided to exit France, a country perceived as extremely difficult in our industry). During this period, we raised approx 30m euros in total and went through very turbulent times and several very hard restructuring to ensure the company survives. Inheriting a company going through a difficult stage with no plans for improvement, I instituted key operational and commercial initiatives to drive long-term growth and profitability. With full responsibility for business growth/retention and profitability targets, I managed personnel, company assets, resources, and health and safety while ensuring compliance with all applicable laws. Due to the consolidation of T3 and T1 licenses in CDG airport, we lost our license for ramp handling and the sole players in CDG became french companies – the license was granted to a company which had just bought from Aeroport de Paris CDG their ramp handling subsidiary – this led to the transfer of 250 employees to the new license holder. Luckily for us, we had anticipated this move in our business plan. After 4 years of turnaround and several rollercoasters episodes, Adrian decided to leave the industry, and I took full ownership of a much smaller but profitable business with FTE 150 and a strong partnership with a fast-growing LCC. Since 2018, we spent our efforts, completing closing in Paris and coordinating the transfer and termination of approximately 750 employees while focusing on consolidating our position in the province.