Air India eyeing partner for ground handling

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New Delhi, July 12

Air India is to tie up with international companies to form a joint venture for taking up ground handling activities at airports in India and abroad, the airline Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V. Thulasidas, has said.

"We already have a joint venture with Singapore Air Terminal Services (SATS) for doing ground handling activities at Hyderabad and Bangalore airport.

Expression of interest

"The airline will seek expression of interest for similar activities not only at Indian but also international airports.

The EoI should be issued either this week or the following week," Mr Thulasidas told Business Line. SATS is a subsidiary of Singapore Airline that provides services including catering, passenger baggage, cargo and ramp handlin g, aircraft interior cleaning, aircraft security and aircraft linen laundry.

Currently, Air India earns more than Rs 550 crore annually from ground handling activities and along with Indian, carry out more than 80 per cent of such activities at airports within the country.

Govt mandate

The move to find a joint venture partner comes as the Government has mandated that from January 2009 only three agencies - subsidiary companies of the national carrier or their joint venture specialised, Airports Authority of India or other operators and any ground handling service provider, selected through competitive bidding on revenue sharing basis - would be allowed to carry out ground handling activities at Indian airports.

Taken from Business Line

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