Final hearing on ground handling case in July; SC orders status quo
07 May 2011
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has provided interim relief to airline operators in a dispute related to ground handling at six major airports in the country by ordering status quo and has posted the case for final hearing in July. Current arrangements at the airports will continue till the court takes a final decision.
The court is hearing an appeal by the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA). Last month it allowed airlines to continue with earlier arrangements with certain conditions.
India's private carriers, like Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Indigo have challenged a new directive from the Airport Authority of India which asks them not to outsource ground handling on their own but to go through government-approved agencies.
The new directive mainly concerns operations at six metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai.
Currently, each airline employs or hires its own ground-handling staff.
An earlier petition filed by the FIA before the Delhi High Court was dismissed.
