SpiceJet has shared plans of launching a new dedicated cargo service in India on September 18 called SpiceXpress. The budget carrier is now looking at better opportunities to expand revenue and increasing its stronghold in the Indian aviation industry. Notably, a few days ago, SpiceJet CMD, Ajay Singh had also requested the Indian government for a level playing field in the Indian aviation sector since international carriers enjoy tax advantages and other benefits. This new update about SpiceXpress comes days after the statement from SpiceJet CMD.
SpiceXpress Fleet to Include Boeing 737s
The low-cost carrier will be adding new Boeing Co 737 planes to its separate cargo fleet. The first four aircraft will join SpiceXpress’s cargo fleet in FY 2019. SpiceJet also predicted that in the next five years, the air cargo traffic in India I expected to grow by 60%. Keeping that in mind, the daily cargo capacity is projected to grow from 500 tonnes to 900 tonnes per day by 2019.
The cargo subsidiary of SpiceJet, SpiceXpress will ship everything from letters, credit cards to blood, organs, medicines, automobiles, apparels, consumer electronics, e-commerce and live animals, the airline said in a statement. The airline also plans to ship perishable items like fresh fruits and vegetables to the Middle East.
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Untapped Market in Air Cargo: SpiceJet CMD
On the launch of SpiceXpress, Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of SpiceJet said, “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,” ET reported.
The SpiceJet executive further added, “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.”