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16 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016 INTERNATIONAL By Mario Pierobon The Middle East, especially the Gulf region, is one of the parts of the world where the aviation industry is growing more than anywhere else. How are ground handlers keeping pace with an industry growing more quickly than their workforce? Growing Inside and Out: dnata's Diversifying Culture T he geographically strategic location of the Middle East - between the European and the Asian continents - and a supportive aeronautical infrastructure are changing the way many long and medium haul passengers travel. Middle Eastern air carriers are also develop- ing signifcant networks in Africa with the results that, paradoxically, it becomes more economical, as well as practical due to frequent connections, to fy from Europe to Africa and back with a stopover in a Middle Eastern hub than without a stopover. It's a fact that the booming aviation industry of the Middle East, namely of the Gulf region, cannot develop by relying only on the local workforce of these Middle Eastern economies. Indeed a signifcant proportion of the workforce comes from overseas to work at the major airports, air navigation service providers and airlines in the region. This trend holds true also for many other economic sectors. The aircraft ground handling business is key in supporting the sustainability of the aviation industry in the Middle East and it is signifcantly affected by the practice of recruiting personnel from overseas. Where From? The ramp workforce is not limited to a certain region but rather employees are recruited from all over the world. In the Gulf countries the ramp workforce's origin varies from Australasia, Philip - pines, the Indian Subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh), Africa (South Africa, Kenya), and Europe. The origin is dependent upon the type of job advertised by a ground service provider's recruitment function, i.e. supervision to operators or manual labor. Jon Conway, a Divisional Senior Vice President at dnata in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) confrmed the theory that Middle Eastern frms source ramp personnel internationally. "We source ramp personnel primarily from overseas, although many expatriate colleagues are recruited locally," Conway says. "Our top fve nationalities working in airside operations are: Indian, Pakistani, Philippine, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan. Across our UAE business, we have nearly 100 nationalities. We are, by any defnition, a multi-cultural organization and it is one reason it is such a pleasure to work here." Why Do Personnel Relocate? The workforce of a given industrial sector being so heavily populated by foreign residents is a phe- nomenon due to the possibility of better standards dnata