DHL Express plans to start a freighter service to Mumbai to feed the demand of western region, said RS Subramanian, Senior Vice-President and Country Manager, DHL Express India.

The western region is now serviced from New Delhi by the international express courier service.

With the introduction of Mumbai service, DHL’s own planes will be touching down in three Indian cities.

“There is scope for one more freighter to Mumbai. It is only a matter of time. We need to see the viability. We need freighter to spare and also volume. We are in the queue. Sooner than later, we will have a freighter service to Mumbai. If it happens, nearly 80 per cent of our cargo will go in our planes and depend less on commercial planes,” he told select newspersons.

DHL operates dedicated freighters to Delhi and Bengaluru with a total of 19 flights every week.

Cargo space

DHL added five flights in the last two years especially on return direction from Europe.

“We use nearly 120 commercial flights every week. Nearly 50 per cent of DHL cargo goes in our own freighters and the rest in commercial flights,” he said.

Globally, DHL has its own 250 planes and has joint ventures with another 200 with airlines like Lufthansa, Polar and AirAsia. These airlines fill 40-50 of the cargo space in the aircraft and leave the rest to DHL. Operating an own aircraft is asset intensive and needs a hub.

Bengaluru is a hub and a gateway for the southern markets that contributes nearly 30 per cent of DHL’s volume. The freighter to Bengaluru was started in 2012, he said.

The delay in introducing a freighter in Mumbai is also due to infrastructure constraints in the airport to turnaround freighters that cannot be kept on the ground for over 90 minutes.

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