The 25th Annual GHI Conference looked back over the last 25 years and looked ahead, asking what the future will look like in 25 years and what challenges and opportunities were ahead.
Welcoming delegates to the show, Conference Chairman Max Gosney said the 25th Annual, which had 960 delegates, 83 exhibitors and representatives from 110 airlines would not have been possible without support from the community over the years.
Reflecting on his recent meeting with GHI co-founders Tim and Jean Ornellas, Gosney said the first annual, which was held in Brussels, Belgium in 1999, had 80 attendees from the ground handling sector but no airlines.
At the end of the conference, a senior Swissport executive approached Tim and said he might be on to something with the GHI conference.
Since then, GHI conferences have been launched for the Asia, Americas and Africa regions.
Over the three days, there were panel discussions looking at industry issues, asking what the ramp will look like in 2050, safety, Gen Z and attracting new talent, cargo and other issues were discussed.
Mohammed Taher AKA The Airport Guy was a guest speaker who talked about social media strategies.
He started making videos at Heathrow Airport about how an airport operates, which quickly became more popular than Heathrow’s official social media channel and now he makes videos for major companies like dnata and Virgin Atlantic.
His videos, which are produced on his phone and shared on TikTok, are proving much more effective and popular than videos produced by companies who have large teams because his videos are more authentic and real, and go directly to social media channels, where people spend a lot of time.
At a special ceremony on day 2 Mark Allen CEO Ben Allen received a special gift in the form of a golden boarding pass from Saudi Ground Services CEO Mohammed Abdulkareem Mazi in recognition of the mutual support between both companies.
Senior executive representatives from BOMBELLI, Goldhofer, and Mallaghan were also given gifts to celebrate their successful partnerships with SGS over the years.
The anniversary gala dinner was held at the impressive Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya where Owen McKenna, Commercial Director ROW at Mallaghan received a lifetime achievement award.
To end the conference, former editor of Ground Handling International Alwyn Brice joined McKenna and Keith Purdom, Head of Business Development at Rsmart on stage to share memories from conferences over the years.
Speaking on the final day, Gosney said the conference was a fitting way to celebrate 25 years of success, saying: “Everybody has got behind the history and brand, and helped us forward to what the next 25 years might hold.”
He said Tim and Jean would be proud to know the event they launched has gone from strength to strength and that many delegates they knew from their time are still attending the event.
“I think it is the ultimate compliment that people keep choosing to come back, making the investment in attendance and it is still relevant to them. Someone told me on the bus to the delegate dinner that GHI is like a homecoming,” said Gosney.
The 26th Annual GHI Conference will be held at the RAI in Amsterdam, the Netherlands from 10-12 November 2025.
