Thiruvananthapuram, Tuesday, June 28, 2011: Flouting the director board decision of the Air India, the ground handling responsibility at the Kozhikode and Mangalore airports is being planned to hand over to a foreign company.

Already the ground handling work at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has been handed over to a Singapore-based firm.

As per the Air India Financial Restructuring Plan (turnaround plan) approved by the Board the fully owned subsidiaries such as Air India Air Transport Services (AIATSL) and Air India Engineering Service Limited would become operational and the ground handling activities would be hived off to these companies.

As per the business plan, the AIATSL was entrusted with the task of ground handling in all the airports except Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi. This plan is now under the perusal of the Union Government for its final clearance.

However, in Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, flouting this directive the ground handling responsibility has been handed over to AISATS a joint venture company with Singapore Air Terminal Services.

(News agency)