Civil Aviation Ministry to allow foreign carriers to conduct ground handling

The new ground handling policy, released last month, allows for three ground handling service providers at all metro airports, from Jan-09. For all metropolitan airports (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad and the Greenfield airports presently under construction in these cities), ground handling will be carried out by:

•    The respective airport operator (AAI or other operators as the case may be) itself or its Joint venture(JV);
•    Subsidiary companies of national carriers (Air India/Indian Airlines or their JVs specialised in ground handling services.  Third Party handling will also be permitted to these subsidiaries or their JVs on the basis of revenue sharing with airport operator;
•    Any other ground handling service providers (eg a private JV) selected through competitive bidding on revenue sharing basis by the airport operator, “subject to security clearance by the Government and observance of performance standards as may be laid down by the airport operator”.

But Jet Airways, Air Sahara and Kingfisher have expressed their opposition to the policy, which excludes domestic carriers from self-handling (an activity many of them currently conduct). They have urged the government to reconsider, particularly in light of moves to allow foreign airlines to self-handle. Jet Airways has close to 5,000 employees involved in various ground handling activities while Air Sahara has around 2,000 staff in these activities.

With almost three more years until the new ground handling policy is due to take effect, there is time for the private airlines to lobby for a review.

Meanwhile, Air India and Indian Airlines have decided (20-Jan-07) to jointly bid for a ground handling licence at the New Hyderabad International Airport, with foreign partner, Singapore Airport Terminal Services. GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd is yet to finalise the ground-handling contract for the airport.

Date posted: 19-Mar-07