Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo has added one more weekly cargo flight from Chennai to Amsterdam and two more weekly cargo flights from Mumbai to Amsterdam, Christophe Albert Boucher, Vice President, Asia and Middle East, said on Monday evening.

Earlier, there were three cargo flights per week from Chennai and two weekly cargo flights from Mumbai.

“We have decided not only to maintain but reinforce the presence of full freighters in India. The first few flights have been full,” Boucher said addressing a press conference. He also pointed out that the addition of more fights will see an additional 40 tonnes a week being made available from Mumbai while the cargo capacity from Chennai is likely to remain the same as before at 20 tonnes a week. Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo, is the dedicated air cargo business of the Air France-KLM Group.

“The idea is not to increase capacity tremendously but get a set up where we can better optimise our presence. The idea is to maximise the profitability of the flight,” Boucher said. While pharmaceutical products remain important, Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo is also trying to see that it gets mail and couriers on board its flights.

“As an industry the issue is not only to get the freighter full but to get the right cargo at the right rates,” he added.

Apart from operating full freighter aircraft, the Air France-KLM Group is also using the using the space available on regular commercial flights that Air France-KLM operates to various Indian cities to transport cargo .

Side stepping a question on media reports that the airline’s board is examining a proposal of exiting the cargo business due to the losses being reported, Boucher said, “Is there a decision? No. If you look at profitability of full freighters they are not profitable. At the moment our target in India is to optimise the capacity in order to be able to prove that we can keep on flying in a profitable way.”

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW