Air India flags concern over deterioration of ground handling services

Air India has written to AI Asset Holding Limited over the continued deterioration of ground handling services provided by Air India Airport Services Limited (AIASL) to Air India flights.

The letter was written to Vikram Dev Dutt, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of AI Asset Holding Limited.

Rajesh Dogra, Head of Customers’ Experience and Ground Handling Operations, Air India wrote that if this continues, Air India will be forced to discontinue or scale down AIASL ground handling services for AI flights and look for alternate arrangements.

The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27 after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year.

Tata Group-owned Air India is considering buying more than 200 new planes with 70 per cent of them being narrow-bodied aircraft, PTI reported quoting aviation industry sources.

While Air India has zeroed in on Airbus’s A350 wide-bodied aircraft for the procurement, the talks with Airbus and Boeing for narrow-bodied aircraft is still on, they said.

A wide-bodied plane like Airbus A350 has a bigger fuel tank that allows it to travel longer distances, such as the India-US routes.

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