AirAsia eyes 10% revenue from cargo

AirAsia India expects to earn nearly 10 per cent of revenue from cargo operations. For this, it has appointed Global Air Cargo India, part of French company ECS Group, to manage its cargo sales.

“We left it to experts to handle cargo while we will concentrate on the passenger side, which we know better,” Mittu Chandilya, CEO, AirAsia India, told newspersons on appointing Global Air as cargo sales agent.

Cargo is critical for an airline though not been given due attention, he said.

The airline will carry cargo in the aircraft belly. AirAsia’s planes have a cargo capacity of around four tonne.

However, the airline expects to carry 3 to 3.5 tonnes, he said. Global Air will be the cargo agent only for AirAsia India in the domestic sector and look at aggregating products like pharmaceutical, electronics and textiles, said its managing director for India Rajendra Dubey.

The company has been operating in India for the last two years as cargo sales agent for international airlines like Tiger Air and Ukraine Airline.

“We expect India to contribute nearly 10 per cent of revenue in the next two years. The revenue is very small now,” said Bertrand Schmoll, Chairman and CEO of ECS Group.

AirAsia India currently operates flights from Bangalore to Goa, Kochi and Chennai. The domestic airline will launch a service to Chandigarh and Jaipur from Bangalore in September for which booking will commence tomorrow. The fare is likely to be around ₹1,300, Chandilya said.

The passenger load factor in the Bangalore-Goa route was 96 per cent while in the recently launched Bangalore-Kochi it was 96 per cent. However, in the Bangalore-Chennai route, it was around 85 per cent due to flying early morning.

“We need to improve in this route, which is a challenge to operate due to the short distance,” he said.

When asked why the airline preferred Bangalore over Chennai as a major hub, Chandilya said it was due to better infrastructure and equipment that the city was chosen.

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