Current status of air cargo services in India

With the growth of Indian economy the demand for air cargo operations have increased significantly in India.  The need for faster delivery and globalization of economy has created more demand. Changing nature of business, like just in time manufacturing and global outsourcing models have also played a major role in the demand creation.

The business means speed to market and movement of inventory is no longer compartmentalized process. The sourcing of inputs, parts and delivering of the final product has become part of the continuous value adding chain.

The air cargo has about 10 percent share in the revenue of the airlines .The air cargo is also barometer of the general health of the economy. The growth of the Indian economy is expected to be in the higher trajectory. This will create immense demand for more air cargo services and infrastructure in coming years.

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The air cargo operation involve industrial supply chain of airlines , ground services , customs , forwarders, air cargo terminals , distribution centers and international express services . Of all these, criticality of the air cargo terminals cannot be overemphasized.  The air cargo terminals are used by airlines, air cargo terminals operators and cargo agents. The air cargo agents are the main contributors to the revenue of the cargo terminals.

The major reason for comparatively low demand for air cargo is the cost of the service. The cost is at least 4-5 times the cost of the road transport and 15 times the cost of the sea transport. But the cost also differs from season to season and for product to product.

The cargo transported by air International Courier Service in Kandivali has higher value per unit and most of the products, which are traded by air, are time sensitive. The products traded by air are pharmaceutical, flowers, vegetables, perishable commodities, emergency supplies, spare parts and seafood. The companies are now using exclusive chartered cargo planes for trade. The small part of the cargo goes by commercial airlines.

The door to door delivery of the products is done by private express companies. These express services are also using air services for faster delivery.  The domestic cargo companies are concerned with the delivery the cargo within the country, while the international cargo service companies take cargo out of India and also bring the cargo at major international airports in India.  Some companies International Parcel Service in Kandivali operate both domestic and international segments of air cargo services. The growth of the industry has created job opportunities for people at various levels in the operational chain.