Cargo upstarts in India appear undeterred by the high cost of fuel, with a slew of new dedicated carriers either in the early stages of operation or preparing to start up. Bangalore-based Quikjet Cargo started hauling domestic air cargo in June using two to three B737-300 cargo planes for servicing Indian metros from its Bangalore hub, according to the Economic Times.
Quikjet’s parent company Aviation Consultancy Services is a joint venture between Cardinal Aviation, a private equity firm in Singapore, and Mumbaibased logistics firm AFL.
Quikjet will soon be having followers, including Avicore Aviation. Promoted by Abhay Lodha, managing director of Topworth group, Avicore has plans to invest $100 million to start a new cargo airline before mid-2008 from the country’s first dedicated cargo airport at Nagpur.
And from Hyderabad, Flyington Freighters will focus on both domestic and international operations using Airbus freighters. Next in line is a new cargo airline and logistics firm started by Capt GR Gopinath called Deccan Cargo which will begin operations by the end of the year.
Gopinath kick started his new venture by acquiring three Airbus A310 aircraft from Air India with plans to expand this fleet to nine aircraft. The US$200 million venture company is being launched with an initial investment from Gopinath.
“In many ways this is the beginning of a new journey. Th is venture hopes to give market access to the country’s remote corners, be it a fisherman in Kerala or apple growers in Himachal Pradesh,” Mr Gopinath told the paper.
Deccan Cargo’s just-acquired aircraft have been fl own over to EADS facilities in Europe for conversion. Deccan Cargo’s top management is largely made up of former FedEx executives, led by Jude Fonseka.
India’s domestic air cargo market is expected to grow at 9.1 per cent a year, but there are just 12 freighters currently serving this market.
Passenger carriers are also planning to take a bite of the cargo pie utilising their bellyhold capacity. This includes Jet Airways, Kingfi sher Airlines, and SpiceJet. Air India has already started separate cargo division under the brand name Air India Cargo, operating international routes, leased planes to Gati and now a domestic network as well.
Jet Airways, the nation’s biggest domestic carrier, recently announced plans to invest as much as US$15 million in setting up its own air-cargo unit after scrapping plans to form a venture which had included discussions with Lufthansa.
The airline’s cargo unit will be equipped with at least three leased Boeing B737 passenger planes converted into freighters which will likely be sourced from JetLite, the carrier’s low-fare unit. The carrier expects to begin flying freighters by the middle of next year.
Kingfisher was also planning to launch Kingfisher Cargo, but has put the project in the backburner as the carrier is focussing on international operations and GoAir, a low cost carrier, is also understood to be firming up its cargo plans.