Air India Cargo set to get global footprint

Air India Cargo plans to start freighter operations to Far East destinations like Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and China from the second half of this year. As part of its major thrust on cargo, it is also looking at Seoul, Tokyo, Dhaka, Dubai, Doha, Amsterdam, Toulouse, New York and some destinations in Australia.

The only international destinations that Air India's freighter arm caters to at present are Dammam, Frankfurt and Paris. "Eight teams from Indian and Air India are doing feasibility studies in terms of inbound and outbound cargo between India and these destinations. We will add these places as and when the results of these studies keep coming," said an Air India Cargo executive.

"We are also looking at flexible and aggressive pricing strategies in line with our product standards and competitors," the executive added.

Based on the study, the destinations are slated to be added from 2008 to 2016.According to the industry figures, India ranks among top 30 freighter markets in the world. India saw a 20 per cent growth in freighter load last year. While domestic air freight traffic saw a growth of around 15 per cent, the traffic grew by 25 per cent in 2007. However, Indian carriers handle only 12 per cent of the cargo operations.

The carrier, however, has to be careful in the deployment of capacity on this routes. On most Southeast Asian routes, the outbound cargo through exports is much less than the inbound cargo through imports. For instance, for calendar year 2007, while 20,000 tonnes cargo came from Hong Kong, the total outbound freighter load was 7,200 tonnes. As much as 3,900 tonnes came from China, which received around 1,500 tonnes in return,

Among national destinations, the airline, which runs dedicated freighter services only to six metros, is also studying the possibility of flying to destinations like Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Indore, Srinagar, Kochi, Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram.

At present, the airline has two Airbus A310s for international and three converted Boeing 737s for domestic cargo services. It plans to take its cargo fleet to 10 aircraft by the end of this year.

"An A310 can carry around 34 tonnes. However, we might go for higher capacity aircraft," said the executive.

Apart from that, the first phase of the development of the multi-modal cargo hub at Nagpur is slated to be ready by June this year.

"Right now, through out tie-up with freighter service provider Gati, we do a basic Delhi-Mumbai-Bangalore-Chennai route. However, by June, we will use Nagpur as the hub of our cargo operations. This will mean that flights from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and southern destinations like Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad will first land at Nagpur. The cargo will be reloaded for different destinations," said the executive.

In the second phase, which will be operational next year, the hub will also act as a multi-modal sorting point for cargo from different destinations and through various modes of transport. The cargo will then be sorted out by a large team of groundhandling personnel and sent to various destinations across the country.