GHIAL reduces rates for ground-handling firms at new international airport at Hyderabad

New Delhi/Mumbai: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), a public-private consortium that has become the first operator of a new greenfield airport to start commercial operations, has reduced the return from revenues of two mandated ground-handling companies Menzies Bobba Aviation (MBA) and a consortium of Air India-Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS).

A new agreement finalised between the two parties allows the mandated ground handlers MBA and AI-SATS to pay just 5 per cent of annual revenues, instead of the earlier 25 per cent, according to a senior GHIAL executive.

The reduction in rates comes on the heel of a decision by the ministry of civil aviation to allow domestic carriers to conduct their own ground-handling operations till January 2009. The ministry was forced to intervene in the matter after domestic carriers complained that outsourced ground-handling charges were more than twice the current rates.