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Canan Çelebioğlu, Chairwoman of the Turkish airport ground-handling giant Çelebi Holding, said in a recent interview that the abrupt revocation of its security clearance in India led to a loss of $400-500 million in value “in an instant”.
On May 15 last year, India’s Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) revoked the security clearance of the Turkish ground-handling company in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, a brief and intense armed standoff between India and Pakistan.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Çelebioğlu said that the revocation of its security clearance impacted around 10,000 employees who were transferred to another company within a day.
Mentioning that she called India her “second country”, Çelebioğlu said, “Last year, around May 15, the Indian government shut us down. They seized all our equipment, transferred 10,000 employees to another company in a single day — and wiped out a value we had built of perhaps $400-500 million. Gone in one day.”
She further said that the Turkish airport ground-handling giant built its presence in India “stitch by stitch” and spent years pushing the government to change policies and to develop the aviation sector.
“And I loved India. That’s what made it so shocking. It truly devastated us,” Canan Çelebioğlu added. Before its ouster from India, Çelebi Holding handled more than 58,000 flights and 10,000 employees annually.
Why was Çelebi banned in India?
In late April last year, a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam claimed 26 lives, mostly tourists. India blamed Pakistan-backed terror groups for the attack and responded with military action.
The escalation led to a four-day exchange of missiles, artillery, and drones, which ended in a ceasefire on May 10 last year.
According to the intel reports at the time, Turkey openly backed Pakistan during the standoff. Turkey supplied more than 350 combat drones, including Bayraktar TB2 models, and even sent Turkish army personnel to help Pakistan in its bid to swarm India’s S-400 air defence system. Two Turkish operatives were also killed in the conflict, as per media reports.
Days later, India not only revoked Çelebi’s security clearance but also took over their heavy equipment and terminated their contracts across 9 major airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. Over 10,000 of its employees were transferred to rival ground-handling operators in a single day.
Can Çelebi make a comeback?
After this, Çelebi filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, arguing that it was an independent political enterprise and had no political connection with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration or the Turkish government.
It further argued that the “national security” justification by the Government of India wasn’t backed by concrete evidence. The Delhi High Court, however, dismissed Çelebi’s petition in July 2025 and upheld the Centre’s decision ot revoke the security permit, stating that compelling “national security considerations” must completely override commercial interests.
The court ruled that ground-handling firms are privy to highly sensitive positions and have access to restricted airside zones, aircraft and passenger data.
