New airport policy, to be implemented from tomorrow, held back

"The airlines have asked for a week's time to finalise the nitty-gritty of signing the MoU with the approved ground-handling agencies," sources said. The delay comes even though Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi today met with officials from the airlines, airport operators and ground-handling agencies and reviewed the preparedness for implementation of the policy from tomorrow.

The civil aviation ministry had proposed to introduce the new ground handling policy from 2007, but its implementation has been delayed due to resistance from airlines and manpower supplying agencies.

Authorised ground-handling agencies have assured the government that modern equipment will be deployed and standards set by International Air Travel Association (IATA) would be met, which means replacement of diesel-engine vehicles and outdated equipment like agriculture tractors which are still in use at several airports to ferry luggage or cargo to the aircraft.

Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court had rejected a plea by airlines to stay implementation of the policy. However, airlines have approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the new ground-handling policy. The matter is expected to come before the apex court on April 4. With the new policy in place, the country's largest airport operator - Airports Authority of India (AAI) is expected to generate additional revenue of at least Rs 350 crore every year.

The authorised ground-handling agencies nominated by AAI were earlier scheduled to start work at important airports like Chennai and Kolkata from tomorrow. Meanwhile, Customs authorities and officials of cargo-handling firm Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management today met to resolve the problem of huge backlog in clearance of export consignments at IGI Airport.

Hundreds of exporters from Delhi and North India have been suffering huge financial losses due to congestion, resulting in abnormal delays in the clearance of export cargo at the airport here. Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management handles all cargo operations at the airport and is a joint venture between the Celebi Group of Turkey, with a 74 per cent stake, and Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd (GMR Group) with a 26 per cent stake.