Domestic air freight services commence in the northeastern region with a Spicejet-operated dedicated freighter landing at the Aizawl airport from Kolkata on Tuesday.
Spicejet freighter Q400 arrived from Kolkata carrying 5,800 Kg of air cargo. The weekly cargo service will be available from Legpui, Aizwal to Kolkata and other cities of North East India depending on the potentiality of Air cargo in the area.
The Airports Authority of India, under the “Krishi-Udan” scheme at North East Region is aiming at promoting local products and the farm products to the outside world apart from building and maintaining aviation infrastructure in the region. The first domestic dedicated freighter to Aizawl in Mizoram marks the beginning of this move.
Services have started in the region and it is focused on benefiting the local farmers and villagers whose products have higher values outside and the motive is that they should be paid at per the demand services.
Praising the efforts of the AAI and the cargo wing-Airports Authority of India Cargo Logistics & Allied Services Ltd, Sanjeev Jindal, Regional Executive Director, AAI, shared that it was one of his wishes that has come true after a dedicated domestic freighter started its services in North East India.
“The services were started in the region under the Krishi-Udan scheme and it is aimed to benefit the local farmers and villagers, whose products have higher value outside. The objective is to ensure that they are paid according to the demand services.”
~Sanjeev Jindal, Regional Executive Director, Airports Authority of India (AAI)
The services of Spicejet’s dedicated freighters are presently available at Legpui airport and Guwahati connecting through Kolkata.
The previous first freighter, again from Spicejet, was operated from Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Guwahati to Hong-Kong on 19 and 26 January 2019 consisting of fruit and vegetables sourced from the local area and adjacent districts of Guwahati.
Interestingly, the customs, EDI and plant quarantine services are also available at Guwahati airport. In return, outgoing cargo flight from Mizoram, different type of local products such as orange, lemon, banana, ginger, pineapple and cut flowers were loaded.
“Northeast is known for its rich green and organic farm products which have demand in domestic as well as international markets. The need is to connect them with fastest cargo services with affordable freighter rates, as most of the perishable products are wasted due to lack of storage and connectivity within the fixed time frame or the shelf life of the products”, said an AAI spokesperson
The need to connect the region with faster cargo services with affordable freighter rates is the need of the hour, as most of the perishable products are wasted due to lack of storage and connectivity within the fix time-frame or the shelf life of the products.
