India’s newest cargo carrier to take off in May Defying the global air cargo slowdown, GR Gopinath, founder of budget carrier Air Deccan, is planning to start operations of his cargo airline in May. His company, Deccan Cargo Express Logistics (DCEL), will take delivery of three Airbus 310 freighters from the first week of April onwards. With plans to offer end-to-end logistics solutions, DCEL’s freighters will fly begin with a Dubai-Mumbai-Delhi-Hong Kong route. Eventually the all-freighter company will hub out of the new Multimodal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN), a complex that is being developed by the Maharashtra government. Gopinath was instrumental in improving air connectivity to smaller towns across India with his budget carrier and plans to replicate the model for his cargo business. “Today, cargo that lands in Mumbai can take a week to get into industrial clusters in the hinterland. With a hub in Nagpur, we will provide connectivity to 60 cities overnight,” he said according to a Business Standard report. The cargo airline will follow a hub-and-spoke model with turboprops feeding cargo from small towns, while the Airbus 310 freighters will connect metros and fly cargo to international hubs like Dubai and Hong Kong, among others. In addition to air cargo, DCEL will also provide ground logistics services. The company, over a two-year period, is expected to operate 11 aircraft.