Gets 10-year ground handling licence

Çelebi Aviation Holding has won the ground handling licence for Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) for 10 years under a competitive bidding process.

Çelebi said it would be investing $5-6 million and partner RGIA to offer modern and technologically-backed services to over 20 million passengers.

The contract was won on the basis of a highly competitive bidding process that assessed the technical and financial qualifications of multiple global ground handling players who participated in the bid, Çelebi said in a release. This is the third win for Çelebi since last year — it has bagged the licence for Bengaluru and Kannur airports.

The year gone by marked the 10th anniversary of the Indian operations of Çelebi Aviation.

The CEO of Indian operations of Çelebi Aviation Holding Inc. Murali Ramachandran said, “India is a key market for us. The partnership with RGIA is an important benchmark in our decade-long journey as it sets another milestone towards our efforts to strengthenpresence in the India aviation market.”

In India, Çelebi is present across India’s top three airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — and has the capability to service close to 50% of aviation traffic in the country. It also has operations in Cochin, Ahmedabad and has recently started offering its services at the Kannur International Airport, which started operations in December 2018.

Çelebi is also partaking in the AAI airports bid process for about 30 airports and has Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL) on its radar, the release said.