Firmly on the Ground

In its bid to galvanise all segments of civil aviation, the government has come out with a National Civil Aviation Policy covering not just airlines and airports but also several other stakeholders, one among them being the essential services of ground handling. The existing ground handling policy/regulations are being replaced by forward looking measures and it has been hailed by the industry.

The Ground Handling Association of India (GHAI) which had opposed self-handling by airlines in the run-up to the policy announcement, alleging that such provisions ‘break firewalls’ and increases interaction numbers and data points, has now welcomed the policy. According to Prem Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director of Bhadra International, which operates in Chennai and other airports, the new policy for ground handling clearly lays down a level-playing field among the authorised service providers in terms of royalty. It has put a total stop on the hiring of manpower from manpower suppliers at the security sensitive Indian airports.

As per the policy, it is now for the airport operator to ensure that there will be three ground handling agencies including Air India’s subsidiary/joint venture at all major airports to ensure fair competition. Non-major airports are exempted from minimum number of ground handlers. The airport operator will decide on the numbers, based on the traffic output, airside and terminal building capacity. In case of third party ground handling, Air India’s subsidiary/JV will match the royalty/revenue share offered by the other ground handling agency. If there is more than one ground handler, Air India will match the lowest royalty/revenue offered by the other ground handlers.

Self-handling

All domestic scheduled airline operators including helicopter operators will be free to carry out self-handling at all airports. Self-handling includes the ground handling services of its own aircraft operations, using equipment owned or taken on lease. The self-handling by an airline may be done by its own subsidiary, through own employees or employees of their own subsidiary taken on regular employment. It states that hiring of employees through manpower supplier will not be permitted and if equipment is taken on hire from outside agencies without manpower, it will be permitted. It mandates that airlines and agencies allowed to carry out ground-handling services at airports shall ensure compliance to security provisions as required under the law.

THE TWEAKED POLICY IS GOING TO GO A LONG WAY IN HELPING THE SEAMLESS AND SMOOTH MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS AND GOODS AT AIRPORTS

Bajaj said that it was good that the government had decided on three ground handlers at airports such as Delhi and Mumbai where the passengers handled are in the range of 41 million per annum. With the expected phenomenal growth in passenger and cargo traffic and the government opening up the aviation sector, there is going to be an incremental rise in ground handling. There are about a score of ground handlers across the country and leading them is AISATS and here are a few of them.

AISATS Leads the Way

AISATS is a 50:50 joint venture between Air India Limited and SATS Limited — a leading gateway services and food solutions provider in Asia. AISATS was formed with the vision to provide world-class airport services in ground and cargo handling. Since the start of its operations in 2008, AISATS has provided hassle-free and comprehensive solutions to its customer airlines at international airports at Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mangalore and Trivandrum. Currently employing over 7,000 staff, AISATS offers end-to-end ground handling services such as passenger and baggage handling, ramp handling, aircraft interior cleaning, load control and flight operations and cargo handling services for general, perishable, trans-shipment, express courier and special cargo.

Celebi NAS Airport Services

Celebei NAS Airport Services India was formed as a joint venture in December 2008 with a mandate to provide comprehensive and world-class services to the Mumbai International Airport. It provides a host of innovative services ranging from ground handling and cargo services to commercial services such as lounges, ‘Meet and Assist’ and more.

The NAS Group is an internationally reputed aviation services provider to airlines and airports worldwide. It has footprint in UAE, Jordan, Kuwait and the Indian subcontinent. In India, the group is present in 14 stations and in all the four countries it has employee strength of over 3,000, besides state-of-the-art equipment which is valued at over $30 million.

Menzies Bobba Excels

Menzies Bobba Ground Handling Services is one of the two ground handlers at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad and is also strong in Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. It provides services such as passenger handling and ramp handling including cabin cleaning. Menzies Bobba is a joint venture company of Menzies Aviation and Bobba group. Menzies Aviation operates at 107 airports in 27 countries across five continents. The Bobba Group is the parent organisation under which different business units of the organisation operate including in aviation and power.

Menzies Bobba Ground Handling Services provide ticketing, check-in, load control, messaging and standard communication, aircraft loading and unloading, cabin cleaning, aircraft ground support equipment, aircraft tow and pushback facility, special services baggage and cargo transfers.

Bhadra International Strong in Chennai

Bhadra International India is an India-based ground handling company partnered with Danish ground handler Novia. Bhadra has been awarded concessions to provide ground handling services at seven of India’s major international airports — Chennai, Kolkata and all five international airports in the Southern zone including Coimbatore, Trichy, Mangalore, Trivandrum and Calicut.

A Charged Turbo Aviation

Turbo Aviation is a leading ground handling service provider in India offering services in major airports in the country. The services include vacuum cleaning; aircraft cleaning; supply of manpower for aviation services within an airport; transport services; ground support equipment; and luggage baggage services.

Universal Aviation

It operates ground support facilities at VIDP and VABB. It has trained and uniformed ground handling agents at VOMM. Universal Aviation sends its ground handling agents to meet the customer at any destination and it can help coordinate grounding support for any location. The services include baggage handling; crew accommodation; direct ramp access; security arrangements; computerised global weather briefings and permit coordination.

Regional Airline by Decor Aviation

Decor Aviation belongs to Decor Group of Companies, which recently started regional airline Air Pegasus. Decor Aviation provides ground handling services to various Indian and foreign carriers at various Indian airports. The Bengaluru-based company has an asset base of over Rs. 50 crore. It has over 20 clients and has handled over 1.3 million passengers and 0.3 million tonne of cargo every year.

A few of the other ground handlers include Bird Worldwide Flight Services (New Delhi); Cambata Aviation (Mumbai); Flyhawk Aviation (Vijayawada); Globe Ground India (Bengaluru); Global Aviation Services (Mumbai); IFOS Aviation Services (Ahmedabad); Jayam Aviation (New Delhi); Moon Flight Support (New Delhi); OSS Aviation (New Delhi); Perfect Aviation Services (Belgaum); Vissikan (Bengaluru) and others.

With ground handling being an integral and inseparable part of the business of running of an airline, the tweaked policy is going to go a long way in helping the seamless and smooth movement of passengers and goods at airports. Due to improved ground handling services, the dwell time at airports can improve phenomenally. Presently, the dwell time for a cargo airport in India is high and efforts are on to improve efficiencies. Ground handling, according to an industry expert, accounts for 1.5 per cent of airfares. The industry is welcoming the NDA Government’s moves stating that one can clearly see that an ecosystem is being created.