The Hindu : Front Page : Streamlined ground handling support needed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 17, 2008
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Streamlined ground handling support needed

V.S. Palaniappan

File Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

Hit hard: A view of Coimbatore Airport. –

Coimbatore: Delayed operations of flights and aircraft not being able to land or take off at Coimbatore Airport owing to “technical snags” have necessitated a streamlined uniform ground handling support and logistical assistance by a single agency rather than allowing private airliners to have their own outsourcing arrangements.

Airport Authority officials on conditions of anonymity said private airliners were being allowed to have their own ground handling logistics. They largely outsource services and logistics on a contract basis leading to inconsistency owing to viability factors. This led to lack of streamlined systems and pilots getting to know about the availability of landing facility or lack of it only after coming under the air traffic control jurisdiction of the landing station. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) should take a policy decision - it could either have its own logistics to be provided to the private airliners which will bring revenue to the AAI or entrust the work to a single agency to provide ground handling logistics which could even be an airliner. AAI sources also recalled an earlier idea i.e. Air India, the national career, providing the ground handling support and logistics to all airliners.

Ground handling includes baggage trolleys for taking passenger luggage from the terminal to the aircraft and from the aircraft to the conveyor belt. It also includes movable ladders for passengers to embark and disembark from the aircraft. The recent incident of an international airliner not being able to land at Coimbatore Airport owing to the non-availability of Ground Power Unit (GPU) has stressed the need for effective ground handling facilities.

GPUs are essential for feeding power to the aircraft for starting the engine and keeping the electrical installations of the aircraft on even if the engines are switched off to avoid noise and save aviation fuel.

Similarly, Auxiliary Power Units are meant for providing start-up power and air supply units (ASUs) are part of the ground handling support logistics and not all the agencies have them. With the outsourcing of manpower and logistics through contracts, the manpower also remained inconsistent.

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