How Portway Handling Coordinates 6,000 Flights a Month with Zello’s AI

Portway Handling operates across four airports in Portugal, managing over 6,000 flights a month on behalf of some of Europe’s most schedule-driven carriers. Among their four locations, Funchal Airport in Madeira presents the most demanding conditions. Airlines specify turnaround windows as tight as 25 minutes, and when a flight arrives late, that window can shrink to as few as 21 minutes of actual working time leaving virtually no margin for miscommunication or delayed instructions. For a ground handling team juggling that many moving parts under that kind of pressure, reliable communication is the difference between a successful departure and an airline complaint.

“Our workday is always very challenging,” says Joao Tiago Dalgute, Portway Operations Director in Lisbon, “especially because of the unpredictability every day.”

Before Zello: Radios, lost messages and no accountability

For years, Portway relied on traditional radios to coordinate airport operations. Messages got lost. And even when they didn’t, the back-and-forth over radio was slow enough to cost a departure. On top of that, radios left no record, so when airlines demanded proof of a door closure or a turnaround timestamp, Portway had nothing to produce.

“When we didn’t have Zello, communicating was often challenging,” says Duty Manager, Paul Sousa. “Now it’s much easier to get in touch. Whether with the check-in supervisor, the ramp supervisor, or the coordinators.”

After Zello: Real-time coordination and a verified record

Today, Zello connects every layer of Portway’s operation in real time, from gate agents to ramp crews to the Station Operations Center and Lisbon headquarters. Push-to-talk replaces fragmented radio chatter with a single, reliable channel. Every message is recorded, searchable, and retrievable.

When an airline raises a complaint or requests an investigation, Portway can pull the exact communication from the exact moment in question and respond with confidence. “Zello helps me make sure that at a specific minute — for example, that the door was given the okay — and that helps me respond to airlines in the event of a complaint or a need for specific information,” says Duty Manager, Isabel Gomes.

And when incidents happen on the ramp, Zello becomes the source of truth. “It helped me understand that my team was prepared, that everything went the right way, and that the team responded positively to the event,” Funchal Station Manager Orlando Guerreiro emphasized.