India’s recovery from the global economic slowdown is rapidly picking up pace, with domestic air freight growing in double digits year-on-year since May, compared with a contraction between October last year and March, according to data released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Overseas freight has also started growing marginally since August. The AAI expects local cargo movement to grow by 5 per cent in the year to March and overseas cargo by two per cent.
The buoyant Indian air cargo market will see at least one carrier taking off within the next six months and another expanding its operations.
Aryan Cargo Express Pvt. Ltd is likely to start flying early next year in time for the February/March peak season for air cargo in India.
Aryan Cargo will initially fly to Bangkok and Sharjah from New Delhi and expand from the next fiscal year starting 1 April. The carrier has applied to lease two more A310 aircraft from the National Aviation Co. of India Ltd-run Air India, according to Indian media reports.
Currently, Air India operates four Airbus A310 freighters and six Boeing 737s from its cargo hub at Nagpur. The state-owned carrier had in September pulled its lone international cargo service connecting Chennai and Mumbai to Frankfurt.
Air India plans to lease out two A310 aircraft and sell the remaining, leaving it with an all-Boeing fleet of 737s cargo aircraft that will be used mostly to serve air mail for India Post.
Deccan 360, part of Deccan Cargo and Express Logistics Pvt. Ltd, on the other hand, started flying international cargo with two aircraft in May and with recovering market, plans to expand its fleet to eight planes.
The carrier, started by low-cost pioneer G.R. Gopinath, will start national operations from 4 November, using Nagpur airport as its local hub and aims to provide overnight delivery to 50 Indian cities.
Deccan 360 will also end its Dubai operations and connect Nagpur with a direct service to Hong Kong. The carrier will deploy three Airbus aircraft and five turbo-prop planes.
