By IANS
Hyderabad : GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), which is developing a new international airport near here, has awarded ground handling contracts of third party airlines to two consortia.
The contracts have been awarded to Menzies and Bobba and SATS, Indian Airlines and Air India.
A statement from GHIAL said the contracts are valid for seven years. GHIAL has planned for two ground handling operators to ensure competitively provided services for the airlines.
The Rs.24.78 billion new airport in Shamshabad, named after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, is expected to become operational in March next year. It is designed to handle 12 million passengers per annum.
Menzies Aviation of the Menzies-Bobba consortium is the leading provider of integrated ground handling and cargo handling services in over 100 locations in the world. The Indian partner, Bobba Aviation Group, has extensive experience in cargo and ground handling in India.
In the other consortium, SATS, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, is the leading provider of integrated ground handling and in-flight catering services at Changi Airport at Singapore and is also operating 16 joint ventures in nine Asian countries for cargo/ground handling and in-flight catering serving over 100 airlines customers.
The Indian partners, Air India and Indian Airlines, are national carriers and major third party ground handling operators in India.
Both the independent Ground Handling Operators have been chosen after a transparent bidding process involving technical and financial evaluations, said the company statement.
The consortia will offer services like ramp handling of aircraft and its loads, passenger handling at airport in terminals and at ramp areas, including handling of VIP/wheelchair cases at curb-side, check-in of passengers and their baggage at city terminals and their transport to the airport, including bringing back arriving passengers up to the city point.
Their services will also include baggage handling, storage and control of station stock of baggage containers of client airlines, cargo handling at ramp areas, load control, communications, handling documents, bills, payments etc of client airlines and operating crew transport, administration, briefing and documentation.
"GHIAL will have two ground handlers to ensure competition that will work as a driver for maintaining global standards," said T. Srinagesh, chief operating officer, GHIAL.
GMR-HIAL is a joint venture company promoted by GMR Infrastructure (63 percent), Malaysian Airports Holding Berhad (11 percent), Airports Authority of India (13 percent) and government of Andhra Pradesh (13 percent).