Malaysia Airlines Cargo (MASkargo) said it aims to strengthen its foothold in the Indian air cargo market by adding more frequencies this year. Currently, MASkargo flies daily to Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai, as well as offering belly capacity on a four times weekly frequency to Hyderabad and Bangalore.

“Due to the anticipated economic recovery at the end of the second quarter, we expect to secure more cargo from India this year,” said MASkargo’s regional manager Amiroel Shazrie Yussof in Mumbai recently. He added that the increased frequencies have not yet been decided upon.

MASkargo volumes from India is forecast to reach an average 900 tonnes a month this year, he said. “The recovering global economy and stabilising freight rates are also expected to increase our revenue from India operations by 6 per cent this year against 2009,” Amiroel said. He added that India contributed about 3 per cent of MASkargo’s total revenue last year with load factor between 65 and 70 per cent, making the country one of MASkargo’s top 10 revenue generating points globally.

Meanwhile, on the outlook of the airfreight industry this year, The International Air Cargo Association secretary-general Daniel C. Fernandez said he expected the recovering industry would only see a single digit growth in yield this year over 2009, when the industry saw a precipitous drop in yield of 21 per cent last year.

“The airfreight industry and trade are closely related and at this point of time we are cautiously optimistic on growth this year. This also depends on consumer confidence which is strengthening, but the US’ 10 per cent unemployment level is still a concern although economic powerhouses in Asia such as China and India are blooming.

“But, we are on a ‘good path’ to recovery now,” he said adding the caution that it would take another three to four years for the industry to return to a healthy level of business last seen in 2007/08.