National Aviation Services (NAS) launched its comprehensive range of award winning ground handling services in Abidjan on the 25th of September. With more than 800 staff and a fleet of 300 pieces of ground support equipment, NAS will provide passenger, ramp and cargo handling services at Felix Houphouet Boigny International Airport Abidjan.

NAS was awarded the exclusive 10-year concession to provide ground handling services at the airport by the Ministry of Transport in Cote D'Ivoire following a three-stage public tender in which more than ten different companies were competing for the contract. Hassan El Houry, CEO of NAS, said "We are pleased to bring the NAS brand expertise and investment to Cote D'Ivoire and to bring our unique product range to what is one the region's leading airports".

NAS has already employed more than 800 people at the airport and has provided more than 5,000 hours of training in preparation for its launch, working with a number of internationally certified training organizations including CAMAS and ICTS.

NAS will provide ground handling services for more than twenty airlines at the airport including the national carrier Air Cote D'Ivoire and expects to handle 1,500,000 passengers at the airport in the next year. On its first day of operation, NAS handled an Air France A380, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, EgyptAir, MEA, Kenyan, Ethiopian, South African, SN Brussels, Corsair, and many other regional and international airlines.

NAS is pleased to launch its West African operations in Cote D'Ivoire, now one of the fastest growing economies on the continent and looks forward to expanding its regional presence from here in the coming years.