Finnair plans cargo freighter service to India

FINNAIR Cargo is planning to launch a freighter service between Helsinki (Finland) and Mumbai (India).

“Our experience so far with cargo out of New Delhi has been encouraging,” said Kuldip Singh Kharayat, Finnair Cargo’s director for the Indian subcontinent. “We have space for at least 20 tonnes of cargo in each scheduled passenger flight, and that is being utilised quite well.

“We managed to carry 5.4 per cent higher volumes from New Delhi last year, despite a 16 per cent cut in capacity. This year, so far, our volumes have grown 26 per cent. So we are planning to start Finnair Cargo service to the city from next year and the finer details and logistics of the freighter service are being analysed.”

Kharayat expects clothing and pharmaceuticals to be the main exports from India and telecoms and, with Helsinki as the region’s hub, electronic equipment from Northern Europe.