In July 2000, portway began operations as the first handling company licensed to provide ground handling services to airline companies in Portugal. Originally set up as a joint venture, owned and managed by two shareholders with a profound knowledge of the market, namely ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, S.A and Fraport AG – simultaneously a handling agent and the airport management company at Frankfurt Airport – portway took its first steps in the business with a complete understanding of the different handling needs of airline companies.

At the end of 2005, ANA decided to purchase Fraport’s share of portway’s capital, becoming the sole shareholder after mid-January 2006.

Today the company has a share capital of 9,500,000 Euros, and, over this nearly 7-year period, it has succeeded in attaining market shares of roughly 35% in the number of aircraft movements handled, and more than 50% in the total number of air cargo movements handled at Portuguese airports.

portway is also recognised for the quality of the services rendered to its clients, as is borne out by its being awarded TUV ISO 900:2000 certification and by the successive qualifications and awards that it has received: IATA accreditation for its training school in Dangerous Goods; the only training school in Europe to be certified by Swiss Air in Load Control; the first European company to be awarded 100% in an audit undertaken by UPS; and the best air cargo handling agent − according to the Transportes & Negócios magazine in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

At portway, the focus is permanently on improving quality. portway’s reputation is further enhanced by the fact that all the airline companies working in the express cargo business, such as Fedex, DHL, TNT and UPS, have been clients of the company for quite some time. These clients have particularly demanding standards for efficiency and punctuality in the handling of cargo and mail and have placed their trust in portway’s services, as have a vast number of event organisation companies.

portway has personalised solutions designed to meet the demands of any client. It is these individual solutions that represent one of the company’s great advantages in the services that it offers to its clients.