Capacity failing to keep pace with air cargo boom in India
Rising import and export demand constrained by lack of aircraft and airport capacity Bullish demand for air cargo capacity to and from India is being constrained by a lack of aircraft and airport capacity, according to leading freight operators.
“India is crying out for capacity. It’s booming,” said Ravishankar Mirle, Emirates’ Regional Manager Cargo Commercial Operations for Asia and Australasia. “That’s true for Bangladesh too, where there is now no available capacity.”
An independent consultant told IFW that India’s domestic air cargo demand would expand at a rate of 10% this year, while international cargo would grow 12%, year-on-year.
In the five years from 2010-11 to 2014-15 Airports Authority of India (AAI) expects 10% annual growth in international cargo traffic. However, capacity constraints are slowing growth, as reported
by IFW last month. A spokesman for FedEx said despite substantial long-term investment, India’s air infrastructure had not kept pace with demand.
“Airports are hampered by factors like inadequate parking bays, single runways and cargo handling and customs clearance capabilities that have led to congestion and delay,” he said. Mirle said Emirates, which operates 184 weekly services out of 10 airports in India, plus weekly adhoc freighter services, was seeing cargo yields of close to 100%.
Finnair plans a freighter service between Helsinki and Mumbai for 2011, while FedEx bolstered its capacity earlier this year by a new flight from Bangalore to Paris, which connects with direct flights to
Europe, the Middle East and the US. TNT and DHL are also understood to be looking at how to increase air cargo capacity to and from India.
Kenneth Koval, VP Operations for FedEx Express India, said: “Despite the global economic downturn, India’s economy reflects strong performance in manufacturing and export-oriented industries.” The export demand boom from India is mainly being driven by pharmaceuticals, telecoms, automotive parts and foodstuffs, with imports of personal items and household goods helping to balance the air cargo trade, according to Mirle.
He said the infrastructure constraints that usually affected garment exports during the monsoon season had not had their usual impact this year. “It just didn’t happen. We had a lot of garment exports. We’d love to put more freighters in but we don’t have the capacity. “The majority of customers are saying they have confirmed orders all the way to Christmas.”
Emirates has looked at starting new services from secondary airports to bring in more capacity and also at trying to connect the 10 airports it serves with road services, to create a virtual hub at
Hyderabad, in the centre of India, for consolidation.
Source: Mike King, IFW News, 27 Sep 2010