The air cargo segment in India today witnessed the coming together of two leaders - Gati the leader and pioneer in express distribution and supply chain solutions and Air India, the country's national carrier, to launch a dedicated freighter service. The first of the five freighters was launched today and will operate on the Delhi-Mumbai-Bangalore-Delhi sector. The networks of the two players will allow for enhanced connectivity and the freighters will criss-cross the length and breadth of the country and later operate with Nagpur as a hub. This tie-up will revolutionize the express cargo segment in India and will help in providing end to end connectivity.
The launch was marked by the flagging off of the Air India - Gati freighter by Shri Praful Patel, Hon'ble Minister for Civil Aviation, Government of India, who was accompanied by Mr V Thulasidas, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, Mr K L Chugh, Chairman, Gati Limited, Mr Mahendra Agarwal, Managing Director & CEO, Gati Limited, Dr V Trivedi, Joint Managing Director, Air India and Mrs Anita Khurana, Director - Cargo and Ground Handling, Air India in New Delhi.
The business model has been created to cater to the rapidly developing global cargo hub in Nagpur. It will serve as the one stop integration point where all freighters will arrive for sorting, exchanging and disseminating of cargo from all parts of the country. The freighters will fly in from all major metros, exchange cargo and fly out with cargo meant for the respective destinations. All feeder routes of Air India will be connected from the respective destinations.
After flagging off the freighter service Hon'ble Minister for Civil Aviation, Government of India Shri Praful Patel said, "It is delight for me to see one of my pet project-Air India to take cargo in India in a big way and to be a part of this fast growing market. I would like to congratulate GATI, a home grown leader in the logistic segment and Air India, the national carrier on this partnership which will set newer heights in the Indian cargo segment. It would be in the benefit of the Indian cargo sector that Air India should also explore the option of inducting newer fleet for dedicated cargo freighter than just converting its older planes for cargo services. "
Announcing the inauguration of the first freighter of this tie-up Mr V. Thulasidas Chairman and Managing Director, Air India said, "Air India once again has made a pioneering effort in the history of Indian aviation by being the first scheduled passenger airline to enter the freighter market, which is growing at a rapid pace of 7100 crores annually. Air India intends to be a loyal and dependable airline partner to GATI and hopes that together this partnership will propel the cargo industry growth by 6.1% per year. "
At the launch event Mr Mahendra Agarwal, Managing Director & CEO, Gati Limited said, "We are proud to partner with Air India, once again on this revolutionary venture. The launch of the dedicated freighter service is aimed at enhancing our connectivity across the entire country. The alliance is expected to take Gati's business from the present INR 4610 million (US$ 115 million) to over INR 10000 million (US$ 250 million) within 2 years. Gati has plans to invest US$100 million in the next three years (June 2009) in setting up Express Distribution Centres (EDC) and in re-engineering of technology and network. We also plan to add another 1 million sq. ft of EDC Space in the next 2 years resulting in a total of 2 million sq ft space in all major locations in India"
In light of the rapidly growing economy of India, Gati and Air India propose to make the best of this public:private partnership and take the alliance to new heights.
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