elebi, KSU Aviation in 50:50 partnership

Having set its eye on ground handling contracts at many airports in India, Turkish airport ground services provider Çelebi inked an agreement for a 50 per cent partnership in India-based KSU Aviation, which will provide taxiing services to airline carriers at Delhi Indira Gandhi airport. In a statement, Çelebi announced it has signed a partnership agreement to provide taxiing services in India and will thus make a capital payment of around €4.1 million ($4.61 million). In line with the agreement, KSU will make an investment of about €6 million in equipment over the next five years for taxiing services at Delhi′s Indira Gandhi airport at a time when KSU′s average annual turnover is expected to be about €3.5 million. Çelebi Aviation Holding India, the local arm of the Turkish ground handling services company, has recently shown great interest in ground handling contracts at a number of airports in India that have been privatised and has reportedly bid on quite a few of them. It already provides ground-handling services at major Indian airports, including Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru and also operates in other smaller cities. The company recently won the ground handling license for Hyderabad′s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) for a period of 10 years after an international bidding process. The company will invest about $5 million, primarily in ground handling infrastructure needed to operate in airports and to build workshops and other facilities.