Govt clears ground handling policy for civilian airports

New Delhi, Feb 1: The government today cleared a new policy to encourage competition in the security-sensitive ground handling services at major metro airports.

There will be three ground handling agents at the airports by January 1, 2009. One will be the airport operator or its subsidiary, another a subsidiary of Air India (AI) and Indian and third a ground handler selected through competitive bidding.

''As ground handling services are considered sensitive, the ground handler selected for each airport will have to abide by strict security protocols,'' said civil aviation minister Praful Patel after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the policy.

Ground handling includes aircraft handling, passenger handling, check-in services, cargo services and cargo clearing services.

Initially, the three players undertaking these services will serve major airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Later, more airports will also be covered to provide better services and better pricing, said Mr Patel.

''Ground handling will become more complex in future as air passenger traffic booms. This will require more automation, high-quality systems and trained manpower.'' Defence enclaves have been kept out of the ambit of the policy and a separate scheme will be worked out for them. The Rs 1,000 crore ground handling industry has been growing at over 25 per cent annually for the last two years due to massive increment in passenger and cargo traffic, both domestic and international.

Major Indian companies which provide ground-handling services comprise AI, Indian and Cambata Aviation while international companies active on this front are Swissport International, Menzies Aviation and Singapore Air Terminal Services (SATS).

Besides the main players, smaller ground-handling companies that do not possess the necessary equipment provide manpower support to the airlines.

Many companies are entering the business. For instance, Punj Lloyd has formed a 49:51 joint venture with Swissport International.

German Airline Lufthansa too has been eyeing the Indian ground handling segment. Last year, it entered into an agreement with Bird group.

Celebi, a Turkish ground handling major, has also shown interest.

UNI