Cargo freighter service in Nagpur

NAGPUR: In the 1950s, Nagpur airport served as a hub for the postal department's night mail service. Five decades later the model is being revived by Indian, which is set to launch its cargo freighter service in July, with Nagpur being the hub for the cargo operations.
The first of Indian's reconfigured Boeing 737 is expected to be delivered in July and will probably be used on the Delhi-Mumbai route.In all, five two-decade old B-737s are being reconfigured for cargo operations. Nagpur will be a transit hub—a convergence point for movement of the cargo from four metros—Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. Sources said freighter planes may start flying into Nagpur from September onwards. A reconfigured B-737 can carry about 15 tonnes of cargo.
Indian handles about 350 tonnes cargo everyday and the movement is mainly out of the four metros, plus Bangalore and Hyderabad. Its annual revenue earnings from cargo are about Rs 400 crore.
"For connecting all the metros we would need so many planes," said Anita Khurana, Indian's director (commercial and cargo). Instead the airline will operate the planes from the four metros into Nagpur where the cargo will be unloaded and loaded for a different sector. "This plan has operational benefits and will facilitate trade," she said. The existing cargo operations will continue.
In short-term freighter cargo operations will be restricted to loading and unloading of containers and pallets at the airport but there are plans for expansion with warehousing and cargo holding facilities at Nagpur.
"We will use the existing facilities at the airport. However, there will be a requirement for extra space and it could be leased from the Airport Authority of India," an official said. At the moment Indian carries about 100 tonnes of cargo every month from Nagpur and has about 800 sq storage space at the airport.