Rethink on airport policy

New Delhi: The government is likely to rework its plan to restrict the number of ground handling agencies to three per airport after airlines protested that this would mean loss of jobs for baggage handlers.
The decision, taken at the insistence of the home ministry, was meant to reduce the number of agencies and personnel allowed access to the airport’s vital “airside”, or the area where aircraft land and park.However, airlines, under the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), fear this will lead to job losses. The civil aviation ministry will hold talks with other ministries.
Ground handling could now be split into two. While only three agencies will be granted access to aircraft, other players could handle front office jobs at airports.
The ministry will discuss the possibility of delaying the implementation of this policy till after the general elections. Any decision would have to be cleared by the cabinet as the new ground handling rules were cleared by the cabinet committee on security.
According to the earlier plan, there would be three ground handlers at each airport — Air India, the company running the airport and a third to be selected through competitive bidding.
07/11/08 The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports Nov 2008