Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc has recorded a major financial upswing in 2025, generating N31.7 billion in revenue in the first nine months of the year.

The revenue generation is its strongest nine-month performance ever, its Managing Director, Adenike Aboderin, told aviation journalists at the company’s headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos over the weekend.

The N31.7 billion revenue represents a 58 per cent increase over the N20.1 billion posted during the same period in 2024.

Aboderin described the growth as “highly commendable” given the severe macroeconomic pressures facing the aviation sector, including surging inflation, volatile foreign exchange, rising cost of utilities and increasingly expensive imported aviation equipment and spare parts.

Despite this growth, Aboderin said SAHCO had continued to deliver value to shareholders, airlines and other stakeholders across more than 22 airport locations in the country.

A further breakdown of the results shows that gross profit rose 47 per cent to N18 billion, up from N12 billion last year, while profit before tax jumped 82 per cent to N10 billion, compared with N5.5 billion in 2024.

Besides, SAHCO’s total assets also increased from N40 billion to N57.1 billion, representing a 31 per cent growth, which she said was driven by investments in Ground Support Equipment (GSEs), infrastructure renewal and technology upgrades.

She said: “Through efficiency, discipline, and strategic investments, we have strengthened our financial resilience. Our focus remains operational excellence, digital transformation and sustainability.”

Also, Aboderin highlighted major technology-driven reforms embarked upon by the management in the last one year.

According to her, SAHCO had commenced e-billing, an in-house flight operations app, a digital budgeting tool, new document management software and cybersecurity upgrades, which collectively enabled the ground handling company to achieve a 27 per cent reduction in year-on-year costs.

She added that a newly created Resource Allocation Department was also helping SAHCO to optimise manpower and equipment deployment across its stations.

Aboderin emphasised further that SAHCO was replacing ageing ground support equipment with electric, environmentally-friendly alternatives.

She expressed that the company now operates the largest number of electric-GSE charging points in Nigerian airports and was installing solar-powered charging stations to support its green transition plan through 2028.

Commenting on rising export volumes, she noted that SAHCO had expanded cargo drop-off lanes, upgraded the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)-compliant screening machines, improved export processing tunnels and enhanced cold chain storage in Lagos and Abuja airports, adding that a new cold room was planned for installation in Abuja in the first quarter of 2025.

She noted that SAHCO’s cold chain facilities now served as a regional transit point for temperature-sensitive goods trucked from neighbouring West African countries.

Among the clients gained in the last nine month, Aboderin mentioned Air Tanzania, Air Algérie, Ethiopian Airlines (Abuja), ValueJet and United Nigeria Airlines’ regional operations, stressing that the company also recently commenced services at Bayelsa Airport and Ogun State’s Gateway Agro-Cargo Airport.

Aboderin said the company expected sustained growth in 2025 as it intensifies investment in technology, people and regional expansion.

She added: “Beyond ground handling, SAHCO is diversifying into e-commerce logistics, helicopter services under its new subsidiary SIPA SACOL Aviation, ticketing through SS Travels, and a soon-to-be-expanded aviation training academy.”

“We have delivered strong growth – 82 per cent profit increase, 57 per cent revenue growth and a N13 billion rise in assets. If we continue on this path, supported by our partners and our people, the future remains bright.”