By IANS
Mumbai : Bangalore-based Quikjet Cargo will start hauling domestic air cargo from April this year, said a top official.
“In the first phase, Quikjet will be using two-three Boeing type B737-300 cargo planes to cover the main Indian metros using Bangalore’s new airport as a hub,” Cyrus Guzder, managing director and chairman AFL Pvt Ltd, told IANS.
Quikjet’s parent company Aviation Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd is a joint venture between Cardinal Aviation Pte Ltd, a private equity firm in Singapore, and Mumbai-based logistics firm AFL Pvt Ltd.
Guzder said it would be an overnight operator and position itself as a premium alternative to the current players in the market.
According to him, the airline will start its international cargo operations after consolidating its operations in the domestic market.
“In the second phase, which would commence by the end of this year, we would start operating to the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries.”
Boeing 757 cargo aircraft will be deployed on these routes.
Specialised infrastructure finance companies such as Infrastructure Development Finance Co Ltd, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd and Tata Capital, the private equity arm of the Tata Group, have picked up minority stakes in Aviation Consultancy Services.
According to Dinesh A. Keskar, Boeing Co’s vice-president of sales, commercial airplanes, the domestic air cargo market is expected to grow at 9.1 percent a year.
Several companies that include Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, Flyington Freighters Ltd, a Hyderabad cargo airline promoted by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, Mumbai-based Avicore Aviation Pvt Ltd and New Delhi-based Aryan Cargo Express Pvt Ltd are drawing up plans to enter the air cargo market.