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Our Bureau Turkish ground handling company Celebi will invest in India irrespective of whether or not it is successful in taking over the ground handling activities of Air India.
Celebi is currently carrying out ground handling activities in Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi and Ahmedabad.
In August last year, soon after the Centre announced its intention to divest Air India and its subsidiaries, including its ground handling entity, Celebi put in an unsolicited bid to acquire Air India Transport Services Ltd (AITSL), the company which provides ground handling services for the national carrier.
“Air India is one of the options for investing in India, but it will be decided by a bidding process. So we cannot bind ourselves only with that option. Of course, if we get that business, most of the areas will be covered. Even if we do not get Air India there is still an opportunity to grow in different destinations,” said Canan Celebioglu, Member, Celebi Aviation Holding, Inc.
Need for clarity
Company officials indicated that they need clarity on at least three issues — how the company will be structured, the future value in tenure that the company delivers and the future of Air India’s employees.
“Today, Air India has grandfather rights at all the airports but for how long is that (going to be)? The company (AITSL) enjoys the base of Air India as it is an assured business but whom Air India gets sold to is not known...All these things need to be addressed as a responsible investor,” said Murali Ramachandran, Chief Executive Officer, India, Celebi Aviation.
Celebioglu said if the Centre mandates that whichever company acquires AITSL has to retain the existing staff strength, then the price being quoted as the winning bid will be affected.
“If the government mandates keeping personnel then we will need to know for how long. This will affect the pricing of the company. If they are asking for maximum price and (asking us to) keep the personnel this will not match. Not only keeping the personnel is an issue but also their indemnity,” she pointed out.
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