Oil prices force cargo carriers to ground plans

Mumbai: Skyrocketing jet fuel prices continue to take a toll on India’s nascent cargo airlines sector.
While one cargo airline has already temporarily shut operations, plans by others to enter the field have come to a halt for now.
Chennai-based cargo airline company, Crescent Air Cargo Services Pvt. Ltd, which runs Crescent Air, has temporarily suspended its operations due to mounting losses. Crescent Air was operating a Fokker 50, a turboprop-powered aircraft, on the Visakhapatnam-Kolkata route, carrying perishable commodities.
“This Fokker aircraft, with a capacity of 7,000kg, was a fuel guzzler and we were losing money. Operating a single aircraft was a potential mistake...,” said one senior executive with Crescent Air, who didn’t want to be named.
Another carrier, Flyington Freighters Pvt. Ltd, promoted by a Hyderabad-based business family whose members also own the Deccan Chronicle newspaper, has also delayed the launch of its dedicated cargo plane operations. As per the original plan, Flyington was supposed to launch its operations in July.
According to an Airports Authority of India report, domestic freight traffic has increased 8.1% in April-December from the same period last year. The country’s domestic freight traffic increased to 423.43 tonnes in that period from 391.83 tonnes in the 2006 period.
19/07/08 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Cargo Jul 2008