American Airlines Cargo has renewed its cargo handling agreement with Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), a SATS company, in a five-year deal covering operations in Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The agreement was signed at American Airlines’ headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, by Dan Bartel, SVP Chief Procurement Officer at American Airlines, and Martin Holme, Chief Commercial Officer at SATS Ltd. Greg Schwendinger, President at American Airlines Cargo, and Dan Parker, SVP Commercial EMEA at WFS, witnessed the signing.
“Our longstanding partnership with WFS has played an important role in supporting our operations across Europe,” says Greg. “Together, we’re continuing to provide the reliable service and global connectivity our customers expect from American Airlines Cargo.”
Handling everything from pharma to live animals
Under the renewal, WFS will continue to handle cargo and mail, carry out security screening and provide customs and documentation support across American Airlines Cargo’s major European stations.
It will also provide specialised handling for pharmaceuticals, live animals, dangerous goods and e-commerce shipments.
The relationship goes back to 1984, when American Airlines founded the ground handling company AMR Services. AMR Services merged with France’s SFS in 1993 and was renamed Worldwide Flight Services in 1999, after American had sold the business. WFS has changed hands several times since, most recently to SATS. That makes this a long relationship between American and a former subsidiary, and it helps explain why this renewal is as much about managing a long-term strategic supplier as buying a service.
“Our relationship with American Airlines Cargo spans more than 40 years and continues to grow in strength,” says Dan.
“This long-term renewal reflects the trust we have built together and the strength of WFS’ European network in supporting American Airlines Cargo’s operations.
“By combining our network and cargo handling expertise with American’s global connectivity, we can continue delivering reliable service for customers across Europe and beyond. We are proud to continue this long standing partnership.”
From seven countries to eight
The new deal brings all eight markets under a single agreement.
In 2024, American awarded WFS a new cargo handling contract in Copenhagen, at a time when WFS was already handling the airline’s cargo in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK.
Copenhagen is one of more than 25 airports in WFS’s network with a dedicated GDP-certified pharmaceutical handling facility, which fits the specialised handling in the new agreement.
The agreement also keeps WFS’s European road feeder network available to American Airlines Cargo and its customers, adding connectivity between key gateways and greater flexibility across the region.
A consolidated supplier market
WFS is now part of a much larger group. SATS completed its acquisition of WFS in April 2023 for an equity price of €1.3 billion (an enterprise value of €2.25 billion). In a 2022 investor presentation, SATS described WFS as the market leader, around twice the size of its nearest competitor, with a contract renewal rate above 90%. Those are SATS’s own figures.
For buyers, that raises the usual questions about supplier concentration and switching costs in a consolidated market.
Five-year terms are also common across the sector. WFS recently renewed five-year agreements with Air Europa Cargo for Madrid and Barcelona (April 2026) and secured a five-year contract with forwarder GEODIS at Brussels (June 2026), while Swissport signed new five-year contracts with Qatar Airways Cargo at Manchester and Birmingham in 2020.
Beyond Europe, WFS also supports American Airlines Cargo at a number of key international gateways in North America and Asia.
WFS is part of the SATS Group. Together, they operate more than 225 cargo and ground handling stations in 27 countries.
