GHIAL: Grounded before take-off

Mumbai:In a span of about three hours, on Friday afternoon, the ministry of civil aviation issued a notification overriding its earlier gazette notification to shut down the old airport at Begumpet in Hyderabad. GMR Hyderabad International (GHIAL), was asked to cancel the meticulously planned changeover to the new airport, scheduled for Saturday midnight.
What soured GMR’s party on Friday was an issue that was out of public eye and way below the radar.
The party-pooper was the battle that the airport operator was fighting with airlines over the ground handling of planes at Shamshabad airport. Domestic airlines, led by Jet Airways and Kingfisher, are clear that they want to handle the aircraft themselves, as they had been doing at the old airport. But GHIAL insisted they use one of the two ground handling agencies, Menezies-Bobba or Air India-Sats, appointed by them. With only two days left to go for the switchover, not a single Indian carrier had signed the agreement, which was a very critical part of the operations. Sources close to the development said the GHIAL brass was up all night on Thursday trying to get airlines to sign on before the inauguration. But it was too late by then. Both sides had hardened their stance and the airlines simply refused to oblige.
Airline sources say it costs them around Rs 8,000 to turnaround one plane, while the rates demanded by the Menzies-Bobba group a year ago were about Rs 19,500. However, sources close to negotiations say the rates have now been brought down to Rs 9,000 during the course of negotiations.
Meanwhile, not much progress has been made on the ground handling issue, but airport officials say it is expected to be sorted out soon.
GHIAL stands to lose around Rs 2.5 crore everyday if it does not open for business.
17/03/08 Cuckoo Paul/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Mar 2008, New Mar 2008