BANGALORE, MARCH 17:
Emirates SkyCargo plans to focus big on e-freight or paperless air waybills.
About 20 per cent of the cargo carrier's load moves as e-freight now, and "we want to make it 100 per cent by 2013-14," Mr Ravishankar Mirle, Regional Manager - Commercial Operations (Asia and Australasia regions), Emirates SkyCargo, told Business Line. Paper documents are making way for digitised ones, he said.
Removing paper documents means considerable savings per shipment, he said. "Being paperless also means less fuel, and we are saving $9 per shipment," he pointed out.
According to him, on an average the carrier carries 200 kg of paper (documents) per flight. While Dubai is already on 100 per cent e-freight, among Indian destinations, Bangalore also high e-freight penetration, he said.
For Emirates SkyCargo, India offers a capacity of about 13,000 tonnes a month, of which Bangalore accounts for 1,260 tonnes and was the fastest growing market. Emirates operates 21 weekly flights from Bangalore to Dubai, and offers over 300 tonnes of cargo capacity in the belly of these aircraft.
Fashion apparels contributed to 35 per cent of Bangalore's cargo, while pharmaceutical products, auto parts, hi-tech items and perishables also were important constituents, said Mr Mirle. According to him, a considerable part of cargo moving from Bangalore airport was from cities like Coimbatore, Tirupur and Sriperumbudur.
"We have enough capacity for the India market now to service demand, and are ready to deploy additional capacity if demand increases," said Mr Mirle. On the proposed hike in user development fees in some Indian airports, he said that escalation in a single year is detrimental to any airline.
"If the proposal goes through, it will increase our unit costs and make operations challenging," he said. But if the hike also brings with it considerable benefits to users, "then it becomes meaningful", added Mr Mirle.
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