The first of August could be a very turbulent day for passengers of most domestic airlines, if they’re scheduled to fly in or out of the Chennai airport.
After the Airports Authority of India (AAI) raised the sum of royalties collected for ground-handling charges from 13 per cent to 32.5 per cent for all airlines from August, every single one has objected and refused to cough up the additional charge. In fact, reliable sources with the Airlines Organizing Committee (AOC) said they have written to Chennai airport authorities asking them to roll back the uncalled-for hike.
This basically means that the AAI is authorised to revoke the licences and passes handed out to outsourced ground-handling staff of various airlines who handle services like loading, baggage handling, driving buses and tractors. The only exception are the few airlines that are utilising the services of Bhadra International India Ltd, which is a licensed handler approved by the AAI, and had already paid a royalty of 32.5 per cent of GTO. “Airlines like Emirates and Lufthansa that use Bhadra’s services are exempt, but what about the rest of us? The airline industry is already loss-stricken without all these additional charges,” said a source with AOC.
So does that mean all the passes of airline ground staff will be revoked immediately? Airport Director H S Suresh said the management is firm on the decision and has asked them to implement it strictly. How much this would affect airline services is not a question that they are liable to entertain. Representatives of airlines are hopeful of a “reasonably amicable” resolution to the issue.
Some of them told Express that they believed the AAI would not force their hand and things would be decided “after arbitration”.
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