SATS-AI wins cargo bid for Bangalore International Airport

BY A CORRESPONDENT
April 15, 2006

The Air India-Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) consortium has won one of two contracts to handle cargo operations at Bangalore's new international airport, set to open in 2008. The second bid is a toss-up between the Bobba Group-Menzies Aviation consortium and the Swissport-Cargo Service Center consortium, set to be finalised by the end of this month, according to Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL), the holding company.

SATS, a Singapore Airlines subsidiary, is also competing for the ground handling category for the airport, in collaboration with AI. This is its first cargo contract, and the agreement is to be signed before the end of this month.

The BIAL has also said that it expects the second consortium to match the AI-SATS bid. It announced, "The second ranked consortium will be requested to commercially match with the first ranked consortium. In case the second ranked consortium confirms to do so, BIAL will finalise the appendices with the two parties and sign the agreements as proposed. In case the agreements cannot be concluded with the two first ranked parties in a reasonable time, BIAL will take up negotiations with the third ranked party." Other companies in the running for the bid included AAI-Mysore Sales International, Jet Air-Dnata, and Reliance Energy-World Wide Flight Services.