The civil aviation ministry is planning to delay the implementation of the new ground handling norms to October instead of the earlier schedule of July 1.
Senior ministry officials said the delay was caused by the recent two week Air India strike because of which the ministry officials were kept busy and were unable to begin work on the subject.
They said the new ground handling rules would therefore be put in place only in a staggered manner and the whole process would be completed only by December.
The officials said they were planning to implement the new norms first in the Mumbai and Delhi airports, followed by the the international airports and only then extend them to the domestic ariprots.
The decision not to put into effect the new regulations in all the airports simultaneously was because this would have resulted in a massive loss of jobs, sources said.
Indutry sources said that due to the new norms at least 25,000-30,000 people in the public sector would lose their jobs.
The cabinet committee on security (CCS) on the civil aviation ministry
