India’s largest private airline, IndiGo, seems to be moving gingerly on its freighter network development, amid muted growth in air cargo imports and exports as demand headwinds plague major economies.
Boost To Cargo Carrier
The addition of a dedicated freighter – a converted A321 – last September boosted the carrier’s cargo initiative, branded CarGo, taking off on the Kolkata-Yangon route in November. According to CarGo International CCO Mark Sutch, the global cargo-airline industry is unlikely to see any profitability uptick this year, citing an IATA report that forecasts a 33% year-on-year decline in cargo revenue.
He said Indian fiscal year 2022-23 air shipments were estimated to be the same as the previous year, 3.14m tonnes. “Hence, it is imperative that freighters are planned and operated on routes that are viable and have a good balance of inbound and outbound tonnage,” Mr Sutch said.
Freight Heavy Routes
Additionally, IndiGo has been active with some project-cargo handling between India and the Middle East, and also on the domestic leg, he noted. “As we bring our two freighters fully onstream, we are building a schedule that works for us as an airline and our customers – complementing our line-haul network with freighter lift on more freight-heavy routes,” added Mr Sutch.
Mr Sutch also noted that on top of narrow-body passenger and freighter services, IndiGo now operates two daily B777 flights between Delhi/Mumbai and Istanbul, adding: “The B777-300ERs are operated under a wet-lease agreement and have an average 20-tonne capacity, depending on pax load.” Overall, IndiGo operates over 300 aircraft with some 1,800 daily departures, and in Q4 fiscal 22-23, the carrier returned to the black, after substantial losses in the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, rival player SpiceXpress, the cargo arm of SpiceJet, wants to consolidate its freight reach and has announced a strategic partnership with domestic express delivery provider Ekart for first- and last-mile services.
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Source: Theloadstar
