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Chennai airport gets a total makeover
CHENNAI: A whole new experience is in store for passengers at the city’s airport where imported state-of-the-art vehicles custom-made for airport operation are set to replace farm tractors and conventional high-floor buses.
Bhadra International which has bagged the contract for ground-handling operations shuttling passengers, supplying check-in and ground staff for airlines, moving flights using pushback vehicles and loading and unloading cargo among others at the Chennai airport, says it is ready.
The company has imported 15 coaches, 15 pushback vehicles, 20 step ladders, 15 conveyors, 15 main deck loaders for wide body aircraft, eight low deck loaders for narrow body aircraft, 45 tow bars to tow aircraft, 10 ground power units, 15 transporters that can be used to move cargo, and 75 battery-operated cars. All these pieces of equipment have been brought in for use of passenger aircraft.
The passenger coaches that will be used to shuttle passengers from the terminal to the aircraft parked in remote bays and back are expected to be the highlight.
These low-floor buses manufactured by Cobus of Germany have a capacity to carry over 100 passengers and can be tilted to a side to make the floor almost touch the ground to help wheel-chair-bound passengers board and also assist senior citizens. The floor can be tilted to as low as just 4 inches from the ground.
“All the equipment has been imported from Germany and conforms to International Air Transport Association (IATA) standards,” said Bhadra International managing director Prem Bajaj. More coaches and equipment will be brought in the coming days, he added.
All the vehicles are battery-operated as per the norms in the ministry of civil aviation’s new ground-handling policy.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has alloted 26,000 sq ft of space on the operation side of the international terminal for a maintenance depot.
Bhadra has also been allotted space near the domestic terminal for its staff and workers. “The maintenance depot and the building for staff will be constructed in a month. But, we are ready to start the ground handling services,” Bajaj added.
A senior AAI official said Bhadra would replace smaller ground handling agencies currently employed by airlines from next month. The new policy allows only three ground-handling agencies airport operator, Air India and a private company that wins the contract in an airport.
Bhadra International will also be in charge of ground-handling operations at the Calicut, Trivandrum, Mangalore and Tiruchi airports.
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