In August 2009 Bahrain Airport Services (BAS) was officially designated as the ground handling company for the upcoming Bahrain International Air Show to be held in January of next year at Sakhir Air Base.

Tuesday morning saw the BAS team play its first significant role with the early morning arrival of over 209,000 kgs of steel to be used in the manufacturing of the chalets. The steel arrived in two B747 jumbo freighters belonging to Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines and the BAS cargo team needed all its staff’s knowledge and experience to off load the aircraft safely and efficiently.

BAS CEO, Mr. Phil Bowell said that although the aircraft arrived over 5½ hours late due to loading difficulties in England, the BAS team managed to get the first trucks away from the airport on route to Sakhir Air Base by 03.25 hrs thus getting the entire operation back on schedule.

Mr. Matt Wright the representative of U.K. Outsize Cargo Specialist, ROCK-IT Cargo in London, who traveled with the consignment, stated how impressed he was that the BAS team was able to carry out their work in Bahrain in half the time the U.K. team took to load the aircraft and they should be warmly congratulated. Loading the aircraft included a specialised ‘floating pallet’ technique as some of the steel was close to 40 feet in length.

Mr. Bowell said Bahrain should be rightly proud of the efforts of the BAS Cargo team this morning which was lead by BAS Cargo Manager, Mr. Murtada Al-Qassab.