Singapore, Feb. 24, 2009 — Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited (SATS) announced that the government of India has approved the proposal of the National Aviation Company of India (NACIL) to establish a 50/50 joint venture (JV) with SATS for ground handling in India.
Earlier, SATS has been selected by NACIL as its joint venture partner for ground handling in India, following a RFP (request for proposal) exercise called by NACIL. SATS and NACIL are already collaborating in two greenfield metro airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore, providing ground and cargo handling services since the opening of these airports in March and May 2008, respectively.
Both partners intend to focus on two other metro airports in Mumbai and Delhi as the next stations to be started under this JV umbrella.
”We are extremely pleased to have NACIL, the national carrier of India, as our strategic partner. We look forward to share our experience and know-how to achieve the expectations of our partner. It is a clear endorsement from NACIL that we have worked very well together in our JVs in Bangalore and Hyderabad. We are excited with this new opportunity to further extend our collaboration and participate in India’s privatisation of its aviation services,” said Clement Woon, SATS president and chief executive officer.
“NACIL currently has presence in more than 50 airports in India. With this JV in place, SATS will extend its presence in the country. This emerging ground handling network will create new service opportunities with our key airline customers at more locations as SATS currently has in-flight catering kitchens serving the metro airports through its other JVs, TAJ SATS Air Catering and Taj Madras Flight Kitchen,” Woon added.
Raghu Menon, chairman and managing director of NACIL said, “SATS is one of the world’s leading providers of ground handling services and having them as a partner in the proposed joint venture will add strength to our service on the ground. SATS has more than 60 years of experience in this field and provides a range of services based on the latest technologies and systems. Combined with NACIL’s experience and coverage, SATS’ presence will make the proposed JV more competitive and efficient.”
SATS and NACIL will proceed to finalize the JV agreements while concurrently planning for the JV operations at the Mumbai and Delhi airports.
