AI mulls over groundhandling duty

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Flouting the director board decision of the Air India, the ground handling responsibility at the Kozhikode and Mangalore airports is being planned to hand over to a foreign company.Already the ground handling work at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has been handed over to a Singapore-based firm.As per the Air India Financial Restructuring Plan (turnaround plan) approved by the Board the fullyowned subsidiaries such as Air India Air Transport Services (AIATSL) and Air India Engineering Service Limited would become operational and the ground handling activities would be hived off to these companies. As per the business plan, the AIATSL was entrusted with the task of ground handling in all the airports except Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi.This plan is now under the perusal of the Union Government for its final clearance.However, in Thiurvananthapuram International Airport, flouting this directive the ground handling responsibility has been handed over to AISATS a joint venture company with Singapore Air Terminal Services.The AIATSL has been running the ground handling since 2005 and now all the employees have been asked to report under the new Singaporebased company.The employees have now approached the Union Civil Aviation Ministry and the Chief Minister against the decision taken by the Air India southern region.The AIATSL employees in a letter to both the Union Civil Aviation Minister and the Chief Minister has said that once the ground handling activities are handed over to the joint venture AISATS, Air India will have to pay AISATS handling charges for its own flights and Air India Express.This will lead the airline only to more financial crisis. The revenue generated at Thiruvananthapuram station from ground handling during 2009-2010 was Rs 43 crore.The revenue earned from ground handling at all airports excluding Bangalore and Hyderabad per annum is approximately ` 650 crores, said the complaint.Air India is passing through a very challenging and critical phase. Increasing debts, mushrooming interest burden are all financially crippling the company.It is becoming difficult to sustain operations without cash flows and revenue generation.Now with the present decision, the Air India is all set to plunge into deeper crisis since it will not be affordable for the company to pay the huge handling charges to the new foreign company, the AIATSL employees said.