Will operate in all airports except those in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi
With Arvind Jadhav, principal secretary, in the department of infrastructure development of the Karnataka government, emerging as the frontrunner in the race to replace Raghu Menon as the chairman and managing director of the state-owned National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), which runs Air India, informed sources said Menon lost the coveted job because of his opposition to the airline's proposed joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS).
Several Indian and international aviation and logistics companies such as Air India, Singapore Airport Terminal Services, Menzies, Bobba, Swissport, Bird Group and Worldwide Flight Services have responded, individually or through tie-ups with each other, to two requests for proposals to set up a new cargo facility at Delhi airport and upgrade the existing one. The RFPs were sent by Delhi International Airport Limited, the GMR-led consortium that is modernising the airport.
Fourteen unions representing over 30,000 employees of the National Aviation Company Ltd have threatened to go on strike in Mumbai from Tuesday to oppose the government's decision to set up a ground-handling services joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services (Sats).
Air India-Singapore Airport Terminal Services, the ground handling arm of the state-owned carrier, will hire 90 per cent of its workforce on contract to start operations at the new terminal of the Delhi airport, according to a senior Air India official. AISATS is a 50:50 profit sharing joint venture between AI and the Singapore-based company. The airline selected SATS as its partner in September 2008.
"A passenger, who had a COVID-positive certificate dated September 2, travelled on Air India Express' Jaipur-Dubai flight on September 4. A similar incident had happened with a passenger on one of the airline's other Dubai flights previously," said one of the officials.
Singapore Airlines first approached the Tatas, its old choice for a venture in India, and was aware of AirAsia negotiations.