National Aviation Services acquires a majority stake in Indian ground handling services company

The agreement was signed by Managing Director Mr. Bara Al-Roumi of NAS and Mr. Sahil Mahta, Director of Nova, India at a signing ceremony at the NAS headquarters in Kuwait will give NAS more than 50% ownership of the Indian company and will enable it to effectively manage projects currently handled by Nova in India.

"This agreement opens new horizons for NAS and will allow us to expand geographically" Mr. Bara'a Al-Roumi was quoted saying at a press statement. "NAS has plans to further expand into Indian subcontinent and this is a great stepping stone for us to enhance existing operations in India while adding to our portfolio of successfully managing airport facilities and providing top class aviation services" he continued.

"NAS has set aside a substantial amount of money to invest in the upgrading of the existing infrastructure at the airports that are being handled by Nova in addition to which we will bring in our expertise and our qualified teams for the initial set up of the operations which is intended to add value to the entire operation in India as a whole." he stated.

CEO of NAS, Mr. Naji Al-Ajmi is of the opinion that "Nova has all the pre-requisites of becoming a leading aviation company in the region and with our expertise and technical input combined with Nova's knowledge of the local industry; we can set new standards in aviation handling in the sub-continent."

"NAS has set perfect examples of improving on internal process efficiencies without compromising on service delivery and this approach has worked to our advantage tremendously so far." affirmed Al-Ajmi whose roadmap for NAS includes setting foot in Africa and the Far East very soon.

"We chose India because in early 2004 the Indian Government through the Airports Authority of India (AAI) announced privatization of a large number of international and domestic airports in the country and this meant the aviation sector will grow vertically. The industry in India will need an investment of around $ 55 billion in the next decade and turning to the private sector was one of the most logical ways to achieve this change that the Indian government is aiming for. Through this agreement with Nova, NAS is now a stakeholder of the Indian aviation industry and as such can help add value to the total solution by improvising on infrastructure, sharing knowledge and expertise and increasing on benefits to other stakeholders and users of Indian airports" added Al-Ajmi.

Business Development Director, Adel Al Askar said: "In addition to providing services like Ground Operations, Passenger Services, Engineering, Line maintenance and Cargo Services we will also be introducing our plethora of value added services like the Meet & Assist Service, Airport Lounges and others" he added.

According to statistics, the budgeting for manpower in India is currently around 15 percent of total allocated operational budget whereas other countries in Europe and North America currently allocate about 27 percent out of their total operational budget for manpower. NAS will aim on increasing efficiencies in this area by introducing new technologies and internationally adapted policies and procedures that will add value to operations at the Indian airports it manages through Nova.

"Research indicates that passenger traffic into Indian domestic airports will increase to 45 million passengers by the year 2010 and the airlines operating within the country will have around 450 - 500 new aircrafts added to their respective fleets by then. This estimated growth in itself reaffirms our faith in the growing aviation industry in India and NAS along with Nova will definitely be looking towards achieving many milestones in the future" Al Askar concluded.