In aviation, air cargo always plays second fiddle to passenger traffic. The situation is no different in India, where local players have a miniscule share in air freight transportation, a space they have almost completely ceded to foreign players.
But the Covid-19 crisis, while shutting down passenger transport, has shown the important role air-cargo operations play in keeping critical supply chains open.
India has been forced to operate passenger aircraft to haul critical cargo, including test kits and other medical equipment. This situation has triggered a call for an Indian air-freighter fleet.
“When I see the complete focus of the aviation industry worldwide on cargo for its very survival today, it makes me wonder, does it take a pandemic to demonstrate its importance?” Keku Bomi Gazder, CEO, AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Airports Authority of India, tweeted.
IATA, on its part, said that second-quarter 2020 revenue for aviation, expected to fall 68 per cent year-on-year, would have been far worse but for cargo operations.
It is not that India never had a serious cargo play. According to B Govindarajan, Chief Operating Officer, Tirwin Management Services (P) Ltd, an aviation consultancy firm, Air India had freighter and combi-aircraft operations for cargo even before many of today’s global airlines came into being. “But we failed to build its national air cargo capacity and began depending totally on foreign carriers. This lockdown situation should open our eyes to build cargo capacity,” he said.
20/04/20 TE Raja Simhan/Business Line
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But the Covid-19 crisis, while shutting down passenger transport, has shown the important role air-cargo operations play in keeping critical supply chains open.
India has been forced to operate passenger aircraft to haul critical cargo, including test kits and other medical equipment. This situation has triggered a call for an Indian air-freighter fleet.
“When I see the complete focus of the aviation industry worldwide on cargo for its very survival today, it makes me wonder, does it take a pandemic to demonstrate its importance?” Keku Bomi Gazder, CEO, AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Airports Authority of India, tweeted.
IATA, on its part, said that second-quarter 2020 revenue for aviation, expected to fall 68 per cent year-on-year, would have been far worse but for cargo operations.
It is not that India never had a serious cargo play. According to B Govindarajan, Chief Operating Officer, Tirwin Management Services (P) Ltd, an aviation consultancy firm, Air India had freighter and combi-aircraft operations for cargo even before many of today’s global airlines came into being. “But we failed to build its national air cargo capacity and began depending totally on foreign carriers. This lockdown situation should open our eyes to build cargo capacity,” he said.
20/04/20 TE Raja Simhan/Business Line
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