The Hindu Business Line : Jet Air expands cargo facility in Bangalore

The economic slowdown has not discouraged private carrier Jet Airways from expanding its cargo handling facility at Bangalore, where it has commissioned a large cargo warehouse to handle international and domestic cargo.

The new facility, which was earlier used by Mysore Sales International Ltd (MSIL), has been renovated by Jet Airways and has an area of 3,078 sq.ft.

The decision to triple the warehouse capacity stems from its assessment that Bangalore, apart from providing the third largest cargo haulage for the airline (after Delhi and Mumbai), is also the fastest growing centre for air cargo business in general.

Briefing media persons about the company's plans today, Mr Bram Steller, Executive Vice-President (Commercial), and Mr P.T.Crasta, Assistant Vice-President (Planning, Scheduling-Cargo), said that though the recovery was expected to be slower, Jet Airways' own growth in the last three years in the cargo business had prompted it to go ahead.

The airline, which has no dedicated cargo carrier, has about 40 tonnes of carriage capacity on its 15 daily flights from Bangalore.

The primary cargo load from the city comes from readymade garments, automobile parts, pharmaceuticals, silks, electronics, engineering goods, computer hardware and medical, surgical equipment and telecom equipment.

Mr Steller said that it did not plan to embark on chartered freight service to meet the demand of the floriculture industry of Karnataka as it did not make business sense for the company yet.

On its growth prospects, Mr Steller said the company averaged about 16 to 17 per cent in terms of tonnage and this should give it an impetus to increase its market share considerably from its present level of 23 per cent.

There has been a steady progress in Jet Airways' earnings form the cargo business, though it forms only five per cent of its total earnings.

Its earnings from freight service increased from a modest Rs 91 crore two years ago to Rs 132 crore last year.

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