Ground Handling International and ASA World announce long-term conference partnership
Why It MattersThe tie-up shows how ground handling event platforms increasingly rely on industry-body partnerships to add credibility and senior participation rather than compete on scale alone.
What happened
Ground Handling International (GHI) and ASA World have announced a long-term partnership under which ASA will support GHI's programme of ground handling conferences, including the flagship GHI Annual Conference and regional events across the Americas, Asia and Africa. ASA will work closely with GHI on conference programming, contribute to the development of industry content and support the participation of senior leaders from across the aviation services community, while GHI continues to lead the organisation and delivery of the events, drawing on more than 25 years of experience bringing together ground handlers, airlines, airports, ground service providers, suppliers and other stakeholders.
Ben Allen, CEO of Mark Allen Group, said the ambition was to create events that are "truly indispensable to the industry" and that ASA's support and expertise would add further value to the existing GHI platform. Alice Clarke, Portfolio Director of Ground Handling International, said the partnership would bring valuable expertise and insight to conference programmes and reinforce GHI's focus on community, collaboration and connections, noting that the GHI Annual Conference would be held in London in December as the partnership begins. Hassan El-Houry, Chairman of ASA World, said GHI had developed a highly respected global meeting place for the industry and that the partnership would increase engagement across the ground handling community.
The partnership takes effect immediately and covers both the flagship annual conference and the regional events programme. The 2026 GHI Annual Conference is scheduled to take place at Olympia London from 1 to 3 December 2026.
Industry impact & what to watch
Conference platforms in aviation services often grow by adding a partner that brings its own network of senior attendees and content expertise, rather than by the organiser expanding alone. Here GHI keeps organisational control while ASA contributes programming input and access to leaders across the ground handling community, a division of roles that lets an established event add credibility without changing who runs it.
This kind of arrangement works because attendance and content quality reinforce each other: a stronger speaker line-up and more relevant sessions draw more senior operators, airlines and airports, which in turn makes the event more attractive to sponsors and exhibitors. Whether that plays out here will show up first at the December event in London, and then in whether the regional conferences across the Americas, Asia and Africa see a similar lift in participation from ASA's network.
