New ground handling firm to be hired at Chennai airport as replacement for Turkish firm Celebi

Airports Authority of India (AAI) will bring on board a new ground handling firm in about three months at Chennai airport after the departure of the Turkish ground handling service provider Çelebi Airport Services Private Limited recently.

Chennai airport currently has two firms—AI Airport Services Limited and Bird Airport Services—which airlines have been deploying for their numerous in ground handling needs like moving passenger baggage between terminal and aircraft, aircraft servicing and cleaning, support services in flight operations and maintenance among others.

The company had bagged contracts for several airports like Chennai, Goa, Kochi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Kannur a few years back. In the city airport, the company managed a fairly significant volume of ground handling and the airlines including US Bangla, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Scoot and SpiceJet had opted for the services of Çelebi until the license was cancelled by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). Revoking this company’s license came when security concerns emerged following military strikes and tensions between India and Pakistan.

In May, when the BCAS withdrew the license to this Turkish-based firm, AAI said, airlines using their services quickly chose to go with the two other firms without causing any inconvenience for passengers.

Officials of AAI said, after the ban of Çelebi, they have now issued a Request for Proposal for ground handling services at Chennai airport. “It is a mandatory requirement from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that major airports must have three firms for ground handling support. This way, duopoly is avoided and in case of any crisis like what happened in May, there are always two firms available at an airport and the operations are not disturbed. If only one firm is available, then the firm may scramble for manpower and as a result, baggage delivery may be delayed, and passengers will be affected. Hence, it is ideal to have three firms,” an official said.