Turkish firm bags contract of ground-handling operations at Hyderabad airport

Turkish firm Celebi Aviation Holding Tuesday bagged the mandate for ground-handling operations at the GMR Group-run Rajiv Gandhi international airport in Hyderabad. Under the 10-year-long contract, won through a competitive bidding process, Celebi will invest USD 5-6 million, a release said. This is the third contract for the Turkish company in recent months, after winning the license for carrying out ground-handling at the Bengaluru airport and the just- commissioned Kannur international airport in northern Kerala.

Besides these three, Celebi also does ground-handling at the Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi and Ahmedabad airports. "Being well set for a major growth path in the aviation space, India is a key market for us. With our focused and strategic expansion plans, we stand committed to play a meaningful role in the growth story of the aviation sector in this country," said Murali Ramachandran, chief executive at Celebi India. elebi has committed to partner with the Rajiv Gandhi airport to offer modern and technologically-backed services to over 20 million passengers, the company said.

Ground-handling services include aircraft cleaning and servicing, loading and unloading of food and beverages, besides cargo and luggage handling. Under the 2107 new ground handling policy, aerodromes clocking 10 million passengers per annum or more are required to have three ground handling agencies, including that of the airport operator/its joint venture/its wholly-owned subsidiary or a joint venture/ subsidiary of Air India or any other agency appointed through a bidding process.

(With inputs from agencies.)