Indian Airlines (IA) is planning tostart a dedicated freighter service fromJuly, the chairman and managing director,Dr V. Trivedi, said “We are likely tocall the new operations Indian cargo.The launch of the new service will notaffect the ongoing merger process.When the merger process gets underway,Indian cargo can be merged withthe new entity,” Dr. Trivedi said.

The airline has already announcedthat it would be launching the freighterservice by converting five Boeing 737-200 aircraft into freighters. “We couldalso look at converting some of theAirbus A-300 in our fleet into freighteraircraft. However, no decision has beentaken on this yet,” he said.

The new freighter airline is likelyto have tie-up for bulk handling on itsfreighter services with the Indian Postamong others.