Aryan Cargo Express to start flying next year

New Delhi: Buoyant growth in India’s air cargo movement will see at least one airline firm taking wing in the next six months and another expanding its operations.
Aryan Cargo Express Pvt. Ltd is likely to start flying early next year, according to managing director Mukut Pathak. “The launch window is between 15 January and 1 February,” he said, adding that the period between February and March is peak season for air cargo.
The airline firm will start services with two Airbus A310 freighters it has leased from a Turkish firm.
As India recovers from an economic slowdown, domestic air freight has been 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.
AAI expects local cargo movement to grow by 5% in the year to March and overseas cargo by 2%, an official of India’s airport regulator said on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorized to speak with the media.
The growth has been “very encouraging for the last three months (till August)”, the official said. Data for September is yet to be released.
Although the civil aviation ministry granted licences to a clutch of firms to ferry air cargo since 2007, none started services as an unprecedented global financial crisis and recession in developed markets dampened demand.
The G.R. Gopinath-promoted Deccan 360, run by Deccan Cargo and Express Logistics Pvt. Ltd, was the sole exception. The carrier started flying international cargo with two aircraft in May.
With the market now turning positive, Deccan 360 plans to expand its fleet to eight planes. It will start national operations from 4 November, using Nagpur airport as its local hub.
03/11/09 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Categories: Aryan Cargo Express Nov 2009, Cargo Nov 2009, New Nov 2009