Autumn 2022

The Air Business GSE guarantee

The Air Business GSE guarantee

Paris-based Air Business Corporation describes itself as specialising in aviation solutions. Refurbishing GSE is one of its main business lines

Air Business Corporation (ABC) is a Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle International Airport-based company comprising four brands: ABC Ground Support Equipment (ABC GSE); ABC Air Business Consultants; ABC Air Business College; and ABC Charter and VIP flights.
The ABC Air Business College at CDG Airport educates on subjects such as operational management, ground operations, flight dispatch, weight and balance, airside operations generally, passenger services and GSE. It offers more than 100 courses and boasts more than 500 students a year.
And as well as the consultancy and VIP and charter flights aspects of the business, ABC is focused on GSE: buying GSE, refurbishing it and supplying spare parts. ABC GSE is based a 25-minute drive from CDG at Beauvais Airport, a third airport serving Paris (alongside CDG and Orly). It has both engineering and paint workshops there, with 1,200m2 of indoor space and 2,000m2 of outdoor space.
ABC president Hervé Gueusquin established ABC in 2016 and oversees all its business today. ABC GSE buys used GSE, refurbishes it and sells it on, though most of its work is undertaken as a subcontractor for “important GSE leaders”, he says. ABC GSE can train personnel on the equipment and can maintain it, and will travel to customers’ work sites on request.
All major brand units and spare parts are offered, including that of TREPEL Airport Equipment, Airmarrel, AVIOGEI, JBT, TLD, DENGE Airport Equipment, Guinault, Timsan and SOVAM. In fact, ABC’s GSE is sourced from “Anywhere, but only from reliable sources,” says Gueusquin.
Refurbishments are undertaken to order, to four different levels – bronze, gold, diamond or platinum – depending on customer requirements. The different standards offer the following under guarantee:
Bronze
Full revision

Gold
Full revision
External painting
New battery

Diamond
Full revision
External painting
New battery
New seats
New tyres

Platinum
Full revision
External painting
New battery
New seats
New tyres

Engine changed (or cConverted)
The Diamond service is most popular, says Gueusquin, but also popular is the Platinum’s warranty of 12 months.
“Our aim is 100% satisfied customers: we are not interested in making quick wins,” Gueusquin declares. “We aim for long partnerships based on trust.”
Business has been good of late, he observes, ABC GSE receiving requests for equipment even during the worst of the pandemic. “Our GSE partners anticipated the downturn and we have been preparing dozens of units to be ready for sale,” Gueusquin confirms.

Electric
ABC GSE has been supplying electric equipment since its creation even before the pandemic. It does not ‘upgrade’ diesel- to battery-powered GSE, Gueusquin says, insisting, “There is no such thing as an ‘upgrade’ in going electric: it is a transformation.”
Indeed, he doesn’t see any economic sense in a ground handler ‘converting’ a diesel-powered GSE into electric. “Why spend a lot of money on transforming when you can sell your diesel GSE to us and exchange it for an electric unit? I think it would be a waste of time and money.”
Moreover, a good diesel engine serves for several decades if well maintained, Gueusquin argues. Batteries for electric-powered GSE might last for seven years and the cost of a lead acid battery is the same as the price as a new engine, with lithium-ion twice as much. Plus, in many parts of the world, users cannot rely on a stable electricity supply, he adds. As a result then, he suggests, while Europe is looking to go 100% electric, most other parts of the world are – at least, as yet – not.
Air Business Corporation is an active member of the Airport Services Association (ASA).

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