Maiden dedicated cargo flight takes off from Vizag airport

An exclusive freighter cargo service was launched for the first time from Visakhapatnam airport on Tuesday. The dedicated cargo services, launched by SpiceJet, connect Visakhapatnam with Kolkata and Chennai, thrice a week and with Surat and Chennai thrice a week.

The first ‘SpiceXpress’ from Chennai arrived here around noon and was received by Visakhapatnam MP M.V.V. Satyanarayana, Visakhapatnam West MLA P.G.V.R. Naidu, former MP K. Haribabu, Airport Director M. Raja Kishore, Chief Security Officer Venu Gopal, AP Air Travellers Association (APATA) representatives K. Kumar Raja, D.S. Varma and O. Naresh Kumar, representatives of AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation Pydah Krishna Prasad and G. Sambasiva Rao among others.

Mr. Satyanarayana said that with exports of marine products, shrimp seed and pharma increasing, the dedicated cargo flights would meet the needs of exporters. He said that more cargo flights would be needed in future.

Mr. Haribabu recalled how the domestic cargo terminal and later the international cargo terminal were opened at Visakhapatnam airport to facilitate air cargo exports.

Mr. Naresh Kumar recalled the efforts of the MP and the former MP as also the airport Director in ensuring that the cargo flight was approved by the authorities concerned. As domestic cargo flights have commenced operations, the APATA would now concentrate on bringing international freighters to Visakhapatnam so that exporters could send their products directly to various places in the world. He lamented that international cargo to some destinations was still being sent from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad by road.

The freighter later left for Kolkata.

These flights are a boon to cargo exporters, especially seafood exporters, who have to export their products in the shortest possible time.

Both domestic and international air cargo from Visakhapatnam, registered an impressive growth during the last two years. The exports from the city include: seafood, auto parts, diamonds and textiles. The domestic and international cargo handled by the airport during the last four years is as follows: 2015-16 – 2,935 tons and 25 tons; 2016-17 – 3,579 tons and 54 tons; 2017-18 – 3,386 tons and 297 tons and 2018-19 – 5,241 tons and 498 tons.