If saner counsel hadn?t prevailed and the government not held firm, eight private airlines would have stopped domestic operations on August 18?perhaps suspending them further if their demands were not met. We condemned this cartel-like move even while recognising that some of these demands merit sympathetic hearing?that tax on ATF be made uniform across the country and that airport charges be benchmarked to international practices, for example. In any case, all was normal in Indian skies on August 18. On the ground, though, trouble continued brewing. At a meeting between airlines, airport developers and the civil aviation ministry, the implementation prospects of a much-deferred ground handling policy appeared uncertain. Approved by the Cabinet committee on security in February 2007, the policy seeks to limit ground handling operations to three players: Nacil, airport operators and service providers selected through competitive bidding. But at airports other than the six major ones (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad), domestic airlines can continue self-handling. Now, some stakeholder concerns regarding this policy may be genuine. However the government chooses to address these, it must insure that the policy is implemented by January 1 as per the latest stipulated schedule. Since the concerns are neither new nor unclear, they can be addressed now as well as later. They can?t really excuse further delays in implementing a ground handling policy that is critical for our insecure times.
Private airlines say they have invested large sums on ground handling activities?ranging from checking in passengers to handling their baggage and cleaning aircraft?over the years. Not only will the new policy lay equipment worth crores of rupees to waste, it will also necessitate the retrenchment of thousands of people. The ground is further muddied by the fact that the policy will benefit the national carrier. Nacil has in fact already announced plans to hive off Air India?s ground handling capabilities to a separate business unit, expected to deliver Rs 300 crore by marketing these capabilities to other airlines. On the government?s side, it can be argued that ground handling is increasingly becoming a more specialised activity the world over. It?s not just that the resulting synergies can reduce costs involved in self-handling. More importantly, this makes for better security, ensuring that there are fewer and better-documented personnel with access to the tarmac, hangars and so on, ensuring also the standardisation of equipment and safety measures. Perhaps this will cost more, but continuing laxity will clearly cost even more. There has to be a compromise between the two views, beginning with a rethink on giving Nacil an unfair advantage.