The trouble – and potential – of India’s air freight market

The Trouble with India is well-documented. Lack of economic reform, lack of infrastructure investment, querulous politicians and intrasigent civil servants are some of the main causes of underachievement, although there are certainly more.
The result? Growth is to shrink from 8.4% to 6.9%. Admittedly, these are numbers that many nations around the world, particularly in Europe, would happily take. The World Bank’s forecast for the global economy is a mere 2.5% growth this year, with developing country growth slowing to 5.3%. So India’s figures remain impressive.
But considering the size of the country and its growth, its logistics and air freight sector has some way to go.
Possibly the most striking (forgive the pun) news to come out of India recently was that pilots at Air India didn’t just down tools, they went on hunger strike. It’s very hard to imagine the Longshoremen’s union foregoing their lunchtime fries over a corporate issue, or Swissport’s handlers threatening to wait at death’s door before they could negotiate terms at Heathrow. Few believe their jobs to be so important they would risk their lives for them – especially when the argument is essentially about a training course.
12/07/12 Alex Lennane/The Loadstar

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Categories: Cargo Jul 2012