|
GURUGRAM, September 10, 2018: SpiceJet, the country’s favourite
carrier, today announced the launch of its dedicated air cargo services and inducted
its first freighter aircraft at a grand ceremony at the Indira Gandhi International
airport in Delhi.
SpiceJet would operate the cargo services under the brand name SpiceXpress and has laid
down a detailed plan covering both domestic and international routes. Much like
SpiceJet’s commercial passenger aircraft fleet, the airline’s freighters fleet will
consist of Boeing 737 planes and will be operated on an incremental direct operating
cost model and extending its operations through its common pool of resources like
pilots, engineers, ground staff, airport infrastructure.
The first freighter aircraft to be inducted by SpiceJet is a Boeing 737-700. SpiceJet
plans to have an air cargo fleet with the first four freighters scheduled to be
inducted in FY 2019. This unit will be operated as a separate business unit under
SpiceJet Limited.
“I am delighted to announce the launch of our dedicated air cargo operations and
induction of our first freighter aircraft. With our proven operational capability, this
is an extension of our ‘belly cargo’ service to a ‘dedicated freighter’ with Boeing 737
aircraft. We are very excited about the tremendous potential the logistics industry
offers. There is a huge untapped market for air cargo services in India and a player
like SpiceJet - with its low cost structure - is best suited to address this need,”
said Ajay Singh – Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet.
“The freighter aircraft will be acquired on pure operating leases and haven’t incurred
any major CAPEX, while the ground operations will be either self-handled by the
existing Spicejet ground infrastructure or shall be outsourced till we develop a
certain scale of operations” he added.
SpiceXpress will launch operations on September 18, 2018. To begin with the air cargo
operations will cover Delhi, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Hong Kong, Kabul and Amritsar.
With the induction of freighters, the airline is all set to strengthen its footprint
whilst offering safe, on-time, efficient and seamless air cargo connectivity across
India, Asia and Europe. SpiceJet will offer direct freighter operations powered by its
fully integrated transportation network including air cargo, ground transportation and
warehousing facilities across the country.
The current cargo capacity of SpiceJet’s existing fleet is about 500 tonnes per day and
with the launch of the dedicated freighter service this capacity would go up to 900
tonnes a day in a phased manner with the addition of four freighters by March 2019.
SpiceJet currently offers cargo capacity on its passenger aircraft fleet of 36 Boeing
and 22 Q400s operating across 47 domestic and 7 international destinations. The added
capacities through the acquisition of the freighters will enhance the airline’s
existing cargo competence to 60 domestic destinations by the end of this year. SpiceJet
aims to further ramp up this competence servicing up to 150 destinations across India,
Asia and Europe by 2022.
The service will address time and temperature sensitive shipments across verticals, like
letters and credit cards under banking, blood, organs, and medicines under pharma.
Other shipments would include automobiles, apparels, consumer electronics, e-commerce
and live animals. Besides, the airline will also ship perishables like farm fresh
fruits and vegetables to the Middle East. Among its key features, SpiceXpress will
offer Priority Based Delivery (PBD), Hour Based Delivery (HBD), Priority Cargo and
Personalised Services (PSS) among others.
The Air cargo traffic in India is expected to grow by 60% in the next five years. The
Indian logistics industry which provides employment to more than 22 million people has
grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8% during the last five years and is
expected to touch a worth of USD 215 billion in the next two years. Eyeing the huge
growth potential in both domestic and global markets, fuelled by the ever increasing
e-commerce boom, SpiceJet aims to shore up SpiceXpress’s existing capacity,
transforming it into a full scale freighter cargo service.
|