News / IndiGo eyes China and South-east Asia and takes on more freighter capacity

Photo: IndiGo

India’s largest private airline, IndiGo, is stepping up freighter operations, aiming to ride what it sees as strong economic tailwinds for air cargo growth.

“We are evaluating the addition of more routes for China and South-east Asia to create air cargo-friendly routes, ensuring efficient and seamless transport,” a spokesperson for the low-cost airline told The Loadstar. 

IndiGo recently added a third freighter – a converted A321 – to its CarGo fleet, which had its debut with a service connecting Hyderabad (southern India) to the Middle East (Sharjah). Currently on an ad-hoc schedule, a firm routing programme for the freighter is taking shape.

And the carrier is due to receive a fourth freighter, the same converted model, designed with 24 container positions and a payload of up to 27 tonnes, this year.

“In recent years, the air cargo business has emerged as a strong revenue stream for the aviation industry in India,” said the IndiGo spokesperson. “With the rise in disposable income and growth of the economy, sectors like e-commerce have seen a robust demand for air cargo.”

Armed with an already-expansive belly capacity network and growing dedicated freighter capacity, IndiGo has been able to capture a larger share of the domestic cargo market – hitting 49% last year, although that excluded cargo carried by Blue Dart and Bangalore-based air cargo newcomer Quikjet, according to data published by India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

“With an aim to maximise its freighter operations in 2024, IndiGo is tailoring its services to cater to the specific cargo needs, such as e-commerce, perishables and time-sensitive items,” the spokesperson said.

The carrier said it was also working on boosting cargo terminal infrastructure in Tier 1 and Tier 2 locations in India, for further network expansion. The carrier aims for a cargo market size of 10 million tonnes by 2030.

Last June, IndiGo struck a $50bn deal with Airbus to acquire 500 aircraft – a mix of A320/321 Neos and A321XLRs, with deliveries scheduled between 2030 and 2035 – a fleet push on top of 480 aircraft already on order with the French manufacturer for deliveries by 2030.

IndiGo ended its fiscal year Q2 (July-September) on a bullish note, swinging back into the black with a profit of some $23m, after a loss of some $190m the previous year.

“With our clear strategy and focus on execution, we have completed a full cycle and remained profitable for the last four quarters,” said CEO Pieter Elbers today.

CarGo’s international CCO, Mark Sutch, told The Loadstar sustainability remained core, meaning concentrating on routes with a good balance of backhaul and headhaul tonnage.

Meanwhile, a potential trade shift from ocean legs to airfreight amid the Red Sea crisis promises some incremental volumes for long-haul freighters, industry sources believe.

“Businesses are increasingly resorting to air freight to safeguard their supply chains and ensure the availability of products on shelves,” said Vineet Malhotra, co-founder and director at Mumbai-based Kale Logistics Solutions.

Indian airports saw about 8% growth in overall cargo volumes in January, over December data.

Meanwhile, rival player SpiceXpress, the cargo arm of SpiceJet, recently set up a strategic partnership with Bengaluru-based Star Air to manage belly space capacity for cargo shipments in the latter’s fleet.

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