Civil Aviation Minister promises air cargo reforms with a three-point agenda
Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu today outlined a three-pronged strategy to accelerate India's air cargo growth, announced impending changes to the country's Air Freight Station (AFS) policy, and called for stronger multimodal integration to position India as a global logistics hub.
Three focus areas identified
The minister stated that the government would focus on increasing cargo volumes, reducing dwell time, and lowering costs.
Making the government's priorities clear, Naidu said, "Increasing the air cargo volumes in the country will be the number one priority for us."
On operational efficiency, he added, "The whole point of sending a product through air cargo is the advantage of time. So, cutting down the dwell time is going to be another priority for us."
The third objective, he said, is making air cargo more affordable.
"The third priority is to cut down the costs that are associated with that. There is an opportunity for us to reduce the cost even more, make it more viable for the smaller players to also come into this network and proudly utilise the air cargo ecosystem."
Naidu said India possesses the demand, volumes and market needed for rapid air cargo growth.
"How do you make it more convenient for them, so that they can have access to the network?"
In a significant policy announcement, the minister revealed that the government is working on modifications to the Air Freight Station policy, following a review that found the existing framework has not delivered the expected results.
"We have the air freight station policy. I was surprised that we have had the policy for quite some time, but it has not clicked somehow."
He indicated that stakeholder consultations are underway to redesign the framework.
"More consultation is required, more active collaboration is required. So we are trying to bring in some changes in that air freight station policy, which is also going to be a big boost to our air cargo."
The minister said India would study global best practices and adapt them for domestic requirements.
"There are multiple different models. One is the global models that we can learn from, Indianize them, make them more convenient for the Indian market and the Indian ecosystem, Indian MSMEs."
India must become a transshipment hub
Naidu said India's geographic location provides a major opportunity to emerge as an international air cargo transshipment centre.
"Because of the geographical location, we can create a system of transshipment where we not only cater for our domestic consumption but also international air cargo."
He added, “How do we take that opportunity and create our systems, align them with the global standards, so other countries use our country as a destination, as a transit destination? So that is also going to be one focus area for us."
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