Bangalore: A consortium comprising Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Indian Oiltanking and Skytanking will be selected as one of the agents for fuelling aircraft at the new international airport if it agrees on all the terms set by Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) for selecting two independent partners in this regard.

The consortium won a 20-year deal in March this year to design, construct, finance and operate a Rs. 90-crore central aviation fuel facility at the first greenfield private-sector owned and operated international airport coming up at Devanahalli near Bangalore.

"As per the concession agreement signed for the fuel facility, the operator shall have the right to enter into an into-plane fuelling service agreement with BIAL on terms no less favourable than the terms of any other into-plane fuelling service agreement entered into by BIAL and a third party into-plane agent," a BIAL official said.

This implies that the IOC-led consortium will have the automatic right to apply for the into-plane fuelling deal at the new airport, and if it agrees to the terms set by BIAL for the facility, the consortium could walk away with one of the two contracts.

The second operator would then be selected through an open, competitive bidding process. But if the IOC-led consortium does not agree to the terms, then both the contracts will be finalised through an open tender, the official added. BIAL will soon start the process of selecting the two operators who will provide the into-plane fuelling service at the airport.

Indian Oiltanking is a joint venture between IOC and Oiltanking GmbH of Germany, which was set up to create infrastructure facilities in the country. Skytanking GmbH is a subsidiary of Oiltanking specialising in fuel hydrant systems, into-plane fuelling and storage facilities across Europe.

Open access model

BIAL had selected the Indian Oil Corporation and Indian Oiltanking and Skytanking team as its strategic partner to operate the facility under the open access model, which allows every qualified fuel supplier to use the facility against a fixed throughput fee and allows airlines to get the best fuel prices available in the market.

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