According to the new regime, drafted in 2007, and postponed two times, private airlines were not allowed to do ground handling through outsourcing. They were asked to do the job through government-approved agencies.
The new rules covered mainly the six metros ” Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai. At present each airline has its own ground handling staff.
Solicitor General G0pal Subramanium stated the rules were drafted because of the security concerns and to improve the efficiency at airports through competition.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered status quo on the dispute over ground handling in the six major airports in the country and posted the case for final hearing in July. There will be no change in the present arrangement till the final decision of the court.
On the appeal of the Federation of Indian Airlines, the court had last month allowed flight operators to continue the earlier arrangement with certain conditions. According to that order, the airlines shall be entitled to renewal of passes on the ground handling staff subject to their entering into a memorandum of understanding with any ground handling agency. This arrangement is to continue, which was what the airlines wanted for the moment.
