What Happened To Delta Global Services? Its Successor Wants To Reshape Aviation Services

For a quarter century, Delta Global Services provided ground handling and aviation services for Delta and other carriers. But in 2018, new people came in with a concept to reshape the industry, primarily by using technology to engage employees. They formed Atlanta-based Unifi; Delta kept 49%.

With 2022 revenue of about $1 billion, as well as 24,000 employees at 210 airports, Unifi says it is North America’s largest provider of ground handling and aviation services. “When you look at the aviation services business, 98% of the work is done by people who are front line employees,” said CEO Gautam Thakkar. “The idea is how do we give them a better experience?”

A second concept guiding Unifi is to use technology to unify the company. In 2018, the business was broadly decentralized, Thakkar said. “If you had 200 stations, it was 200 different companies,” he said. “We wanted to make it one vision, one goal. Anyone will tell you the basis for growing a business is a strong infrastructure.”

Thakkar, a native of Mumbai who graduated from Purdue in 1990, said Unifi is profitable but declined to provide numbers. A goal is to double revenue by 2025. The majority owner is Atlanta-based Argenbright Holdings, which bought its 51% share from Delta for an undisclosed price. The five-member board of directors has three members from Argenbright and two from Delta.

Large sectors of the airline services business were once unionized, as the work was done inhouse by the broadly unionized carriers, but in many cases, unions lost jurisdiction during the industry bankruptcies at the turn of the century. Delta has long been less unionized than peers. As for Unifi, about 1,000 of its employees, mainly in Houston, are represented by unions.

A key component of Unifi’s model is its employee app, rolled out in 2022. The app enables all sorts of interactions with employees, including letting them quickly see their paychecks, shape their schedules, be notified of incentives for achievements such as 100% attendance, buy merchandise such as washers and dryers at a discount and collect their paycheck early, which eliminates the need to go to payday lenders, said Ying McPherson, chief strategy officer.

McPherson said her team constantly develops or implements new technologies. Some, like a timeclock, come from other venders. But for the app, which is the centerpiece for employee engagement, “We developed the concept in 2019,” she said. “It took a while. We pushed it out last year.” McPherson worked with Montreal-based WorkJam, which provides digital frontline workforce apps. “WorkJam’s customer success and services teams worked with Unifi to configure our leading app to reflect their unique vision for frontline employee engagement,” said Steve Kramer, WorkJam founder and CEO, in a prepared statement.

McPherson said Unifi learned that employees want more awareness in three areas: to identify corporate culture and leadership, to see their benefits and wages, and to address the question: “I don’t know what’s going on.” She seeks employee awareness and appreciation of the company. That can be easier to achieve at an airline than at many other businesses, since airlines are so visible, especially at airports. Employees work together on tasks such as loading and unloading bags. Moreover, through its affiliation with Delta, Unifi can offer flight benefits to employees.

Atlanta is Unifi’s largest operation, with about 3,000 employees. Charlotte is a smaller one, with 145 employees. It provides an example of how the company operates.

In Charlotte, America and its regional affiliate Piedmont has about 95% of the passengers and provides most of its own ground services, with the exception of wheelchair services. Meanwhile, Unifi provides baggage handlers for Delta as well as agents and baggage handlers for Spirit. Starting wages are $15 an hour for Spirit and $16 an hour for Delta.

Delta ramp manager Hernando Sanz oversees about 95 ramp workers who work Delta’s 30 daily departures, while Jennifer Casallas is the station manager for Spirit and oversees 45 agents and ramp workers for the eight daily flights, a number that will rise to 12 in May. For Delta, Unifi workers handle baggage. For Spirit, Unifi workers staff ticket counters and gates, clean airplanes, board passengers, manage baggage and interact with the airport and the Transportation Security Administration.

Both managers say they have found mentors in the airline business and had positive experiences at Unifi. For Casallas, who started at Unifi in 2019, “I came in with no airline experience. My peers pushed me and my station manager believed in me.”

Sanz has an airline background, His uncle and cousin both worked for US Airways. One day in 2007, he went to an open house for ramp agent hiring. He thought it was US Airways, but in fact it was regional partner Piedmont Airlines. He stayed at Piedmont for eight years before joining Delta Ground Services in 2016. “Mentors played a big part in shaping me,” he said. Unifi has made a big difference, he said, noting that the app’s scheduling function replaced spreadsheets that were once posted on the wall.