Category Archives: Aviation

Spoton Logistics has launched its air express cargo services. With this announcement, the company now offers a range of specialised multi-modal express cargo services to B2B customers, significantly reducing turnaround time for time-sensitive deliveries to over 25,000 pin codes across India. Abhik Mitra, Managing Director and CEO, Spoton Logistics, has said, “The air express service will play a major role in catering to the rising demand for safe and faster deliveries. We expect our new service to act as the cornerstone in increasing our market share and provide competitive advantage to our clients.” The newly-launched Air Express service will be driven by Spoton’s road express pickup and delivery infrastructure and supported by its excellent usage of engineering, data and technology which helps the company deliver greater reliability and consistency to its customers.

To expand its reach in India, Kerry Indev Logistics has launched eight services, each catering to different B2B and B2C segments of the Indian market under the Kerry Indev Express brand. Dr S Xavier Britto, Chairman, Kerry Indev Group, says, “The Express service will enable our company to reach the doorsteps of consumers, thus completing our dream to offer truly end-to-end logistics solutions to them.” The eight pan-India last-mile delivery services launched under the Kerry Indev Express brand are Same Day Express, for guaranteed delivery within 6-8 hours in the same city or between designated cities; Early Express, for guaranteed overnight delivery across designated cities; Priority Package Express, for door-to-door delivery of valuable documents and packages across 200 cities/towns covering 3000 pin codes and expanding to 6,000 pin codes by end 2019; Priority Freight Express – Air, for next-day/committed door-to-door delivery solutions for commercial and urgent shipments to major metros and non-metros; Priority Freight Express – Surface, for a day definite door-to-door delivery solution for commercial and urgent shipments to major metros and non-metros; E-Commerce Business Express, for time-definite deliveries, international courier clearances for cross-border e-commerce services, cash on delivery, drop ship service, reverse logistics; Warehousing Solution Express, for fulfilment centre services and first & last-mile distribution services; Critical Solutions Express, for temperature-controlled distribution, passport and critical documents handling/jewellery cargo handling and clinical trial/biological sample supply chain solutions and other value added services.

With the passenger traffic declining by 1.1 per cent (Y-o-Y) in March 2019, the cargo traffic growth at Indian airports moderated to 6 per cent in FY2019, as against double-digit growth witnessed over the last two years. The growth slowdown was primarily driven by international cargo segment, which accounts for 62 per cent of the total cargo traffic and reported Y-o-Y growth of 2.6 per cent in FY2019 as against 15.6 per cent in FY2018. On the other hand, domestic cargo traffic has witnessed robust Y-o-Y growth of 12 per cent in FY2019, up from 8.1 per cent in FY2018.

Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) has become the first Indian airport and third in Asia to receive International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Pharma certification. MIAL has achieved this quality milestone for pharma logistics following successful completion of training courses, on-site assessment, and complex validation processes. Acknowledging the importance of this initiative, MIAL has initiated the certification process with a community approach, together with its air cargo supply chain partners. The IATA CEIV Pharma certification has been introduced to prevent temperature excursions of pharma products during air transport, with the key objective of patient safety and reduction of losses attributed to logistical issues. It aims to improve the handling of pharmaceutical cargo by complying with existing national and international regulations.

E-booking platform Freightos WebCargo has acquired India’s Air Freight Bazaar, a regional air cargo rates and sales platform based in Chennai. “This acquisition combines WebCargo’s advanced air cargo rates, sales and e-booking platform, used by over 1,400 leading forwarders, with Air Freight Bazaar’s market share of 300 leading regional air forwarders,” said a Freightos WebCargo spokesperson. Air Freight Bazaar customers will receive access to WebCargo’s existing platform, including access to on-demand air rates, dynamic pricing, and e-booking with airlines like Lufthansa Cargo. Vinay Sethia, Co-founder, Air Freight Bazaar, said, “With WebCargo by Freightos, we can offer our customers improved technology, direct access to over 300 airlines, and e-booking. We’re also excited to represent WebCargo and Freightos in India.” Zvi Schreiber, Chief Executive Officer, Freightos, said, “Air Freight Bazaar has been a regional leader in freight digitalisation, making them a natural fit. Our initial focus in India will be on further automation for local air freight forwarders and collaborating on dynamic pricing and e-boking with regional airlines.”

Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) recently held a conference on ‘India – Future Air Cargo Leader in South East Asia’, in New Delhi. Addressing the gathering, Vandana Aggarwal, Economic Advisor, MoCA, Government of India, said, “In the last few years, we have emphasised on the fact that the entire value chain is important and we cannot work in silos. The result was laudable; air cargo, in terms of volume, has not only grown double-digit in the last two years, but we have also improved performance. Dwell time, which used to be more than 100 hours, came down to 13 per cent in the first year and 25 per cent in the second year. Today, we are stand at less than 39 hours for imports and less than 24 hours for exports, but there is more to be done.” Aggarwal also urged the air cargo community to take measures to strengthen itself to such a degree that these little blips, which were beyond their control, did not adversely affect the overall growth. Pradeep Singh Kharola, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, was the chief guest at the conference. The conference brought together ministry officials and expert speakers from the industry, as well as leaders from both India and abroad to debate on the National Air Cargo Policy that has been outlined and circulated by the government.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched a new industry certification, Center for Excellence for Perishable Logistics (CEIV) Fresh, to improve handling and transport by air of perishable products. The specific time and temperature requirements for food and plant products makes the handling and transporting of perishable products challenging. The CEIV Fresh programme meets these exacting requirements primarily based on IATA Perishable Cargo Regulations (PCR) which combine professional regulatory and operational input from industry and government experts. “Perishable goods are a growing market for air cargo. Ensuring that these delicate and short shelf-life products reach the customer unspoiled with minimal waste and loss is essential. Shippers will have assurance that CEIV Fresh-certified companies are operating to the highest quality and standards in the transport of perishable products,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

India and Afghanistan have opened another air freight corridor connecting Herat to New Delhi to promote bilateral trade, bypassing Pakistan. The corridor was inaugurated just a few days after Afghanistan sent the first cargo shipment, carrying 200 kg of saffron and 1600 kg of Pistachio, to New Delhi from Herat in the first flight. India and Afghanistan established a direct air freight corridor connecting Kabul to New Delhi in June 2017 after a decision was taken in September 2016 in a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Since then, the corridor also expanded to the Kandahar-New Delhi sector. On February 24, Afghanistan started a new export route through Iran’s Chabahar port that marked the first end-to-end use of the trade route for Afghan exports. The Zaranj-Chabahar route allows Afghan goods to reach India without crossing the Pakistani territory. The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) has said that Afghanistan’s economic dependency on Pakistan has gone down following the establishment of new alternative trade and transit routes with several countries, including an air corridor with India.

The recently-held Aviation Conclave of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), in New Delhi, saw industry veterans and stakeholders discuss the Air Cargo Policy that was launched in January. Sharing his opinion on the policy, Tushar Jani, President, ACFI, said, “I think we need to plan our growth and it’s difficult to get into the day-to-day problems of simplification, infrastructure, and other issues. I would suggest that with the new National Air Cargo Policy, let’s make a design and decide what should be the blueprint for the air cargo infrastructure in this country. If we can achieve that, our infrastructure probably would be better than a lot of other places.” He added, “I commend Air India for its growth in cargo in the last 1.5 years, which is remarkable. I am sure that carriers, by going direct, have grown their cargo equally. Hence, we need to make a blueprint considering India will be connected directly with many destinations, and the traditional hubs in the Middle East may shift into the US, Europe, or the Far East.” He also said India could perform better in the value-added supply chain than even developed countries, because the labour here is intelligent and available, and the industry must take leverage here.

Blue Dart has launched its new state-of-the-art aviation facility strategically located near Terminal-1 (Domestic) at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai. The facility measures 4300 sqm and is equipped with both air and city-side access, enabling fast and efficient transfer of shipments, improving transit times, and further strengthening Blue Dart’s market-leading service quality. The new facility is equipped with dedicated ground handling with superior equipment, automation, world-class infrastructure, and advanced technologies to support handling of express shipments within the shortest time possible, in compliance with security and safety protocols.