After numerous hiccups, Air India is likely to finalise the ground-handling joint venture with Singapore Air Terminal Services’ (SATS) subsidiary by September this year, according to a top official.

The JV, in which National Aviation Company of India Limited or Nacil has 50 per cent stake, is slated to be one of the three mandatory ground-handling service providers at the six metro airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, and any greenfield airport that comes up in future.

Air India has been trying to sort out the matters and operationalise the agreement well before the new ground-handling policy takes effect in December this year. The joint venture had run into trouble after SATS insisted that Nacil should sign the JV agreement with its newly formed subsidiary SATS Investments Pvt Ltd. It had a capitalisation of just $2, which had also posed a problem. “The issue of capitalisation has been resolved as they have been asked to put in half a million dollars,” said a senior official.

Earlier, in February the Cabinet had given the go-ahead to Nacil to form a JV with SATS. However, a debate followed on whether Nacil could form a JV with newly formed SATS’ subsidiary when the Cabinet had given approval for JV to be formed with SATS. “This matter has been resolved,” said the official. The airline is hoping that once operational, the JV will become a separate profit centre. The JV will also absorb a substantial chunk of Air India’s manpower in ground-handling unit, cutting the flab of the carrier. However, there might be some changes in wages , an official said.