Govt tells AAI to draw plans for 24 domestic air cargo terminals

The ministry of civil aviation on Tuesday decided that Airports Authority of India shall draw plans to develop domestic cargo terminals throughout the country. 24 airports have been identified for this. With a belief that improving efficiency in the existing infrastructure is a continuous process, addition of infrastructure shall also be planned and put in place where ever feasible, civil aviation secretary Ashok Lavasa said.

In tandem with the recent development of cargo terminal buildings at Coimbatore and Trichy, facility will be established at other airports also, said a ministry statement. Airports Authority of India said they had recently established similar facility at Mangalore airport with the infrastructure facilities with an area of 1400 sqm for international cargo and 1100 sqm for domestic cargo thereby providing an annual holding capacity of 5000 tonnes for international import cargo, 13000 tonnes for export cargo, 18000 tonnes for domestic in-bound cargo and 21000 tonnes for domestic out-bound cargo. AAI informed that at 24 airports in total such domestic cargo terminals will be developed.

Highlighting the importance of air cargo infrastructure in the country which is crucial for global economic health, Lavasa said that the works shall sync with the government’s plan for development of air cargo facilities throughout the country and development of national logistics network for faster movement/transport of cargo goods.

Air Cargo represents about 10 per cent of the airline industry’s revenue. About 35 per cent of the value of goods traded internationally is transported by air. Transport and logistics industries are closely related so far as growth and development of the economy is concerned. Thus, with a boom in economic activity, demand for transport and logistics is sure to be in demand.

Further with the globalization and present trends of international marketing boom in the industry it is expected to boost the cargo traffic both in urban and rurban areas. Ministry of civil aviation had setup a working group to study the Air Cargo Logistics in India and had released the report in May 2012.

The report envisages there is strong relationship between growth in international trade and logistics infrastructure. During the year 2013-14, all operational airports taken together so far as freight is concerned, maintained 2 million MT mark.