Air India and Gati, a global logistics company, have jointly launched a dedicated cargo service, making it the first public private partnership (PPP) in the air cargo sector.
Air India recently handed over a Boeing 737 aircraft to Gati for operating daily cargo flights on the Delhi- Mumbai-Bangalore-Delhi route. The airline is scheduled to hand over four more aircraft by mid-2008.
The joint venture is aimed at heading off competition in the domestic air cargo sector from Blue Dart Express, owned by DHL, a unit of German postal services giant Deutsche Post. The aim is to capture an 11 per cent market share within one year.
India’s domestic air cargo industry, which is dominated by Blue Dart Express, has been growing at a compounded growth rate of over 11 per cent over the past five years.
According to estimates, a booming economy may see domestic air cargo grow to 500,000 metric tonnes by March 2008, at a 20 per cent growth rate every year, over the next five years.