Air cargo gains its rightful place amidst pandemic: Tulsi Mirchandaney

Talking about the stellar role played by the air cargo industry, Tulsi Mirchandaney, MD, Blue Dart Aviation, says, “Under extremely difficult conditions, when most were confined to the safety of their homes, this segment of aviation worked every single day through the lockdown to provide the only accessible logistics network across the country and overseas.
However, the air cargo segment is still hurting. High fixed costs remain unchanged, the depreciation of the rupee impacts our lease and maintenance cost, and, the commodity mix has changed. While certain segments like e-commerce and pharma have grown, we are yet to witness other industries get back to their earlier levels. The ATF cost is now back to the pre-COVID levels and is the biggest hit. ATF is a well-worn subject that is continuously brought up because it is a core cost component. For a cargo airline, it accounts for close to 40 per cent of direct operating cost. Unlike passenger airlines where excess belly capacity is used for incremental revenues, space on freighters is the mainstay of our revenue.”