Air India is set to launch two separate subsidiaries — one for maintenance, repair & overhaul (MRO) and the other for ground handling services — later this this year, according to the National Aviation Company of India (Nacil), theparent company of Air India. Air India expects to generate Rs 10-15 billion (US$200-300 million) from the ground services business. State-owned Air India has already formalised a draft proposal and is likely to implement the plan next … [Read more...] about Air India to spin off ground handling
asia cargo news
Dnata’s UK foray takes it to Heathrow
Dubai-based international airport services provider Dnata is to acquire two of the UK’s leading ground handling operations. The first company is Plane Handling Ltd, currently part of the Go-Ahead Group plc, which provides cargo and ramp handling services at London Heathrow and cargo handling services at Manchester airport. Dnata’s second acquisition invovles the passenger and ramp handling operations at Terminals 3 and 4 at London Heathrow from Aviance, which is also … [Read more...] about Dnata’s UK foray takes it to Heathrow
India’s moribund ground handling policy
First scheduled to come into effect on 1 January 2009, then postponed to 1 July 2009 a new ground handling policy, necessitated by the rapidly developing aviation market in India, was postponed again to January 2010. But this time around the date was pushed backeven further, to a year later. Initially approved by Parliament on 1 February 2007, the civil aviation ministry wanted to put an end to ground handling being done by private airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. Desirous … [Read more...] about India’s moribund ground handling policy
Middle East needs liberalisation and privatisation
With aggressive growth amongst the region’s air carriers, aircraft fleets and airports are all in various stages of substantial expansion. This creates significant opportunities in the supply of airside services. Frost and Sullivan estimates that the market which earned revenues of US$1.92 billion in 2008, will grow to $2.83 billion by 2015. Revenues from commercial aircraft are expected to constitute a major share as a result of a growing fleet size and greater averagecost of … [Read more...] about Middle East needs liberalisation and privatisation
PACTL builds customer base despite recession
According to PACTL deputy general manager Lutz Grzegorz, the cargo handler, which serves 40 per cent of the international cargo passing through Pudong airport, focused on strict control of its operational cost and manpower utilisation last year in order to face the global recession. “PACTL, whose core business is providing cargo warehousing services, handled a total of 911,000 tonnes of cargo last year, representing a 12 per cent year-on-year decline in overall cargo throughput,†… [Read more...] about PACTL builds customer base despite recession
HKIA ground handlers expect better times ahead
In the first three quarters of the year, HKIA’s year-on-year cargo throughput was down by 22.9 per cent, 17.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent from Q1 to Q3, but a 16.2 per cent gain in Q4 helped narrow the full year’s decline. “Hong Kong’s aviation industry faced a number of challenges in 2009. We saw contractions in all three air traffic categories, which were due in large part to the global financial crisis that began in the latter part of 2008. The outbreak … [Read more...] about HKIA ground handlers expect better times ahead