Europe’s IAG Cargo has placed its faith in the Indian cargo market and expects more business from the country in the coming months. Anticipating a rise in cargo demand, IAG Cargo will be operating 112 weekly services between India and London by the fourth quarter of 2022.
IAG Cargo operated 104 weekly services in the pre-pandemic months of January – February 2019.
IAG Cargo's Chief Commercial Officer John Cheetham said: “India has always been an important country. What we are seeing now is that the import market into India is growing significantly. We have far more balanced demand in and out of India which is great for air cargo because air cargo is normally unidirectional. As India's population gets richer, it is consuming more and exports are also diversifying,"
He added that "hi-tech manufacturing in India is a very important market, and is very exciting and that the country also has a diversified export base that is good for the air cargo segment".
India's air cargo volume, including exports and imports, stood at 3.14 million tonnes in 2021-22 and efforts are being made to increase the same to 10 million tonnes by 2030-31.
Going ahead, the IAG Group expects to hit certain headwinds in the form of rising interest rates, and fuel prices making the demand situation challenging.
IAG Cargo represents the cargo business of five airlines namely British Airways, Iberia Cargo, Vueling and LEVEL, and Ireland's Aer Lingus Cargo.
