IA to focus on cargo business

After focusing on passenger services since inception, Indian Airlines (IA) has turned its attention to cargo business.

The company has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Air Transport Services (SATS) for ground handling facilities at airports.

This is expected to give a leg up to its cargo activities. Indian Airlines is likely to float a separate company, to handle the cargo business, which would be operational by the year end, an IA official said here today. "We are carrying 300 tonne cargo per day. However, there is enormous scope for future growth," M S Balakrishnan, regional director (east) of IA, said.

However, to carry a bigger volume of cargo, Indian Airlines might have to upgrade its fleet. Though a overhaul of the fleet is far off from the present, the company is trying to promote its present capacity.

"Freight forwarders can book cargo online through our newly launched website," Balakrishnan added. The challenge before the cargo operators in India is that cargo is uni-directional in nature.

"To make the operation viable, there has to be cargo from both end of a route. However, there are no return cargo in many of the routes," Balakrishnan pointed out while speaking at a seminar on 'Challenges in Transport Logistics and Cargo Management in a Globalised Economy,' organised India Institute of Materials Management (IIMM).