Having set its eye on ground handling contracts at many airports in India, Turkish airport ground services provider Çelebi Thursday inked an agreement for a 50 percent 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 euros ($4.61 million).
"A partnership agreement has been signed with Mr. Ashwani Khanna and Ms. Zaheda Khanna, the founders and shareholders of the KSU Company, to become a 50 percent partner in KSU Aviation by participating in the capital increase to be made in this company. Thus, a capital payment of 320 million Indian Rupees (approximately 4.1 million euros) will be made by our company," read the statement by Çelebi to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP).
In line with the agreement, KSU will make an investment of about 6 million euros 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 euros.
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 privatized 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.
