The decision gives temporary relief to 35 ground handling agencies and their 22,000-odd staff working at Mumbai airport.
The civil aviation ministry has deferred the implementation of the new ground handling (NGH) policy by six months, giving temporary relief to 35 ground handling agencies and their 22,000-odd staff working at Mumbai airport.
On June 30, the civil aviation ministry announced the deferment of its NGH policy that was to come into force from July 1, 2009.
“The government has decided to defer the exit of non-entitled entities from the ground handling operations till 31 December, 2009. The ministry of civil aviation will now undertake a thorough review of the policy, after all necessary inter-ministerial consultations, before 31 December, 2009,” said a statement from the ministry.
Under the NGH policy from July 1, 2009 only three ground handling agencies were to operate. The government had announced the policy in 2007, but the airlines and various airport operators made representation citing large-scale loss of employment.
“Airlines had also represented about the loss of substantial investment made in ground handling and other related equipments.
The airlines also wished to continue with those aspects of ground handling which required passenger interface like check-in, which directly impacted service standards of the airlines and were part of the product offered by them. The airlines had also complained about the high charges of ground handling agencies,” it read.
While the existing agencies got a respite, one new agency, Nova Aviation Service Private Limited, has already started its operations at the airport from Tuesday midnight. The Mumbai-based agency has formed a joint venture with NAS (national aviation services) of Kuwait. “We operated our first flight of British Airways at 12.45am and have begun our operation in full swing,” said Deepak Dalvi, director of Nova. Nova at present is doing ground handling for British Airways, Lufthansa, Air Arabia, Air France, Bahrain Air, etc.
Spokesperson of Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said though the policy has been deferred, the new agencies will continue to operate alongside the old ones.
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