Swissport begins handling LATAM Cargo flights at Cape Town, Johannesburg
The Cape Town and Johannesburg connections to São Paulo provide additional capacity for perishables, pharmaceuticals, and high-value manufactured goods.
SOUTH AFRICA – Swissport, a global aviation services company, has begun supporting LATAM Cargo’s operations at Cape Town and Johannesburg, connecting South Africa with São Paulo, Brazil, according to a company statement.
LATAM Cargo is the freight division of LATAM Airlines Group, South America’s largest airline group.
The inaugural flights followed months of planning and collaboration between Swissport’s teams in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
These teams will combine local cargo expertise with global standards to support LATAM Cargo’s operations between South Africa and São Paulo, focusing on safe, reliable, and consistent handling at both locations.
The partnership strengthens South Africa’s air cargo links to South America, a trade lane where direct freighter capacity has been limited.
LATAM Cargo operates a fleet of 20 Boeing 767 freighters and serves more than 50 destinations across Latin America, North America, Europe and Africa.
For South African exporters, the Cape Town and Johannesburg connections to São Paulo provide additional capacity for perishables, pharmaceuticals and high-value manufactured goods, while Brazilian exporters gain improved access to Southern African markets.
African network
The service complements Swissport’s existing cold-chain infrastructure, with the company’s African network covering 29 airports in six countries and 17 warehouses supporting temperature-sensitive shipments.
In August 2026, Swissport opened a 630-square-meter temperature-controlled cargo facility at Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania.
The facility has an annual handling capacity of up to 13,000 tonnes and is designed to handle temperature-sensitive cargo, including flowers, fresh produce, seafood, meat, and pharmaceuticals.
The company operates more than 120 cargo centers worldwide.
Middle East partnerships
Swissport expanded its presence in Saudi Arabia through a five-year partnership with flynas.
Under the agreement, Swissport Saudi Arabia will become flynas’ exclusive ground-handling partner across flynas’ network in the Kingdom. Flynas will also acquire a 10% stake in Swissport Saudi Arabia, with an option to increase its holding to 20%.
More recently, Swissport and Etihad Airways agreed to expand their global ground handling and cargo partnership from 30 to 40 airports across Africa, Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia.
The agreement covers ground handling and cargo services and includes the potential to expand into airport hospitality through Swissport’s Aspire brand, which operates 110 airport lounges worldwide.
Finally, this expansion reflects Swissport’s focus on operational efficiency and specialized cargo infrastructure, as the company continues to uphold global handling standards across its network.
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