Tata Sons plans to set up a ground handling agency to try and meet Air India’s growing demands and then offer the services to other carriers. The Group may also bid for the national carrier’s ground-handling business, Air India Air Transport Services (AIASL), currently put on the block by the government. Before its sale to Tata Sons, the government had separated and transferred the reigns of Air India’s business units, like ground handling, to Air India Assets Holding.
The upcoming Air India business unit may also house the aviation training academy, which was announced in December 2022 as part the planned organisational revamp. Air India is building the academy at par with global standards. Tata Sons has set aside funds for the aviation business for the next five years and will also fund this project.
The training academy and the ground handling services combined are expected to help Air India become a top international carrier. The airline will need new home-grown pilots, cabin crew, engineers, airport managers and other functional experts. The old aircraft and technology glitches continued even after the takeover by Tata in January 2022. It currently has an airport services joint venture with Singaporean SATS Airport Services, AISATS.
The company also plans to set up a multi-modal cargo hub at the upcoming Greater Noida airport with an integrated cargo terminal (ICT) and an integrated warehousing and logistics zone. In addition, the government has plans to invite bids for the carrier’s erstwhile ground-handling subsidiary AI Airport Services and its engineering arm AI Engineering Services.
