First Flight to ground air express operations

Mumbai: First Flight Couriers has decided to shut down its dedicated air express operations this month. The company has notified the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Airports Authority of India of its plans to terminate flights and given notices to crew and pilots, too.
When contacted by ET, First Flight Couriers deputy managing director RK Saboo, said: “We have grounded all our aircraft on account of various reasons which I will not be able to share now.” First Flight’s flight time has been short, as the company had started dedicated freighter operations with leased three Advanced TurboProp (ATP) aircraft (MSN 2039, 2051 and 2054) only four months ago in June.
The development is significant because many players in the industry have declared their intention of getting into it. Blue Dart Aviation is the only Indian firm that has scripted a success story, using its own planes to service the express air cargo segment.
First Flight’s aviation arm, which started off with small planes, is the second entity to fold up.
22/10/07 Ashish Kumar Mishra/Economic Times

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Categories: Cargo Oct 2007