By IANS,
New Delhi : The government has approved the formation of separate joint venture companies between National Aviation Co of India Ltd (NACIL) and Singapore Air Terminal Services (SATS) for cargo and ground handling activities at various airports, an official statement said.
NACIL, which also owns Air India, has already bagged contracts for three projects, to be executed with SATS – a Rs.99-crore (Rs.990 million) cargo handling contract and a Rs.73-crore (Rs.730-million) ground handling contract from Bangalore airport authorities, apart from a Rs.80-crore (Rs.800-million) ground handling contract from the Hyderabad airport developer.
Other joint ventures will be formed for undertaking ground handling activities in Mumbai, Delhi, Cochin and other Indian airports – all on a 50:50 shareholding basis.
NACIL enjoys majority market share of the ground handling business at the Indian airports, primarily because there is very little competition.
A large component of NACIL’s third-party ground handling contracts are based on mandated commercial agreements, which would expire Jan 1, 2010, as per government policy.