The Hindu Business Line : New Hyderabad airport : Low-cost airlines fret over ground handling charges

Take-off problems
The costs for ground handling at the existing airport vary from player to player as they engage their own staff (or rope in agents for the job).
The other two major components of additional cost on low-cost airlines are fee on oil and transportation costs of staff, particularly pilots and air-hostesses.

K.V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad, March 17 Having got more time to shift operations to the new airport at Hyderabad, the low-cost airlines continue to hold discussions with ground handling companies Menzies Aviation-Bobba and SATS-Indian Airlines for a lower fee.

Though there is no change in landing and parking charges at the new airport, it is the issue of ground-handling charges that bother the low-cost airlines more. They fear that the cost of operations would go up significantly.

“We will be paying Rs 17,000-Rs 19,000 for ground handling expenses for every flight we operate to the new airport. The comparative figure for the Begumpet airport is around Rs 5,000-Rs 7,000,” a Spicejet spokesperson told Business Line.

There are broadly two categories of aircraft – smaller aircraft such as ATRs and bigger ones such as A320s and Boeing 737s.

The costs for ground handling at the existing airport vary from player to player as they engage their own staff (or rope in agents for the job). Hence the charges range from Rs 4,000-Rs 7,000 for these two categories of aircraft.

When contacted, a GMR Hyderabad International Airport spokesman said the figure is inflated. Accepting that the original figure was in that bracket, he said the cost could be about Rs 5,000 for an ATR and Rs 9,500 for A-320 and Boeing 737s.

“The services we offer will match the IATA standards. We told them (the two players who got the ground-handling bid) not to outsource staff to ensure better security,” he said, attributing the increased charges to this count.

Ground-handling includes cabin service and replenishment of catering requirements.

The other two major components of additional cost on low-cost airlines as they shift to the new airport are fee on oil and transportation costs of staff, particularly pilots and air-hostesses.

Fee for using security screening systems and check-in space is put at Rs 700 and Rs 500 an aircraft respectively at the old airport. Comparative figures for RJIA are not available immediately, though domestic operators fear higher costs on this count too.

An airliner would have to pay a fee of Rs 2,100 for every kilo litre they buy from the open access fuel farm operated by Reliance.

This, however, seems to be a non issue for international airlines. “We are ready to fly from the new airport. It is a non-issue for us,” a KLM executive said.

Yet another burden for low-cost airlines is the likely charges on landing and take-offs. At present, AAI waived those charges. But the new airport, they will have to pay.

Passengers

For the passenger, there could be two components of additional expenditure. While transportation cost to the new airport could be in the region of Rs 300 to Rs 600. For international departures, the user charge is put at Rs 1,000 (Rs 775 more than Rs 225 collected at the existing airport).

But the domestic passengers would be spared from this fee for now.

There is no change in parking fee. “They need to pay whatever they are paying at the Begumpet airport. We have decided not to collect any fee for the first 15 minutes,” Mr Kirankumar Grandhi, Managing Director of GHIAL, said.