India air freight market too young to measure correctly

India air freight market too young to measure correctly A Boeing executive said India’s freight market is so nascent, and its dedicated freighter fleet so small, it's too early to make correct projections about how the market will grow.
   There are only 12 freighters: six operated by Blue Dart, the nation’s biggest express company; five by Air India; and one by Crescent Air.
   “That’s why I hesitate to create a forecast for the India cargo market — because the base is so small now,” said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president of commercial plane sales for Boeing, at the Air Cargo India 2008 conference in Mumbai today. “It needs to develop more before that happens.”
   But that time may come sooner than later.
   Keskar said Boeing’s projects that Indian airlines will order 911 planes over the next 20 years. Significantly, Boeing has increased its forecast of twin-aisle jets that will be ordered during that time from 120 in its 2006 projections to 173 in 2007. Twin-aisle jets mean big planes with lots of belly space, bringing huge capacity into the market.
   India’s air cargo market languishes well behind its Asian counterparts, due in large part to moribund airports.
   Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa Cargo chief executive office and chairman, addressed the lack of quality facilities in Indian airports, not to mention lack of space.
   “The infrastructure isn’t even sufficient as of today much less for future projections,” he said. “It’s not an acceptable service level and it’s not what you’d expect to see in the 21st century.”
   That said, Spohr sees an exciting future for Lufthansa in India. It’s the largest provider of air cargo services in the country, by a wide margin, and has plans to ramp up capacity through its family of airlines, which include Swiss World Cargo, Jade Cargo International, and a coming joint venture airline with DHL that will primarily serve Asian markets.