Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Alert: Mumbai Airport Appoints New Ground Handler As Celebi

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport: Acting swiftly to ensure passenger services continue seamlessly, Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has appointed Indo Thai Airport Services as the interim ground handler. This comes after the Indian aviation ministry cancelled all partnership with Turkish-based Celebi Aviation after Turkey supported Pakistan amid cross-border tension. All airports in India have ended ties with Celebi in solidarity with the Indian government.

IndoThai is a leading service provider of ground handling services at Indian airports. It is offering its ground services at nine airports across the country and will work with Mumbai International Airport which is backed by Adani Group.

On May 15, Mumbai Airport announced that following the government of India's decision to revoke Celebi's security clearance, "we have terminated the ground handling concession agreements with Celebi at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) and Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPIA)."

"Accordingly, Celebi has been directed to immediately hand over to us all ground handling facilities to ensure uninterrupted operations," Mumbai Airport wrote yesterday.

Mumbai Airport emphasized that they will continue to offer seamless services to all airlines without disruptions through new ground handling agencies selected by them.

Furthermore, the airport stated that all existing employees of Celebi at CSMIA and SVPIA will be transferred to the new ground handling agencies on their existing terms and conditions of employment.

Additionally, a spokesperson of Mumbai and Ahmedabad airports said, "Ground handling operations at our airports will remain unaffected. We are fully committed to upholding the highest standards of service and national interest."

Apart from Celebi, Mumbai Airport also terminated its partnership with Chinese-based DragonPass which provided access to airport lounges.

Hence, DrangonPass will no longer have access to lounges at Adani-managed airports. It said, this change will have no impact on the airport lounge and travel experience for other customers.

Both Turkey and China have announced support to Pakistan which harboured terrorists that are the masterminds behind the Pahalgam attack in India