MRO
Air Costa Ramesh Lingamaneni, Chairman, Air Costa, and CEO, Capt. K.N. Babu
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Cargo connects hinterland Air Costa has tied up with Sovika Group by targeting to carry around 500 tonnes of cargo a month in the unused belly space of the aircraft
MRO It is the only regional airline in the private sector in India and it is fairly doing well. Vijayawada-based LEPL group which is into real estate, infrastructure etc got into airline business in 2012 when it first received a no-objection certificate from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Ever since the group has not looked back and has gone ahead with its plans. It was at the Paris Air Show in 2013 that it announced picking Embraer aircraft and by October that year it had its first flight from Chennai. It has a fleet of two each Embraer E-170 and E-190 aircraft and has been operating to nine destinations in the country and they are: Vijayawada, Chennai, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Tirupati, Coimbatore, Vishakapatnam and Hyderabad. They are connected with Embraer E-170s (67 seats) and E 190s (112 seats), which is ‘Redefining Air Travel’ with its cabin room and seating comfort. With its ‘Customer First Attitude’ Air Costa has made special efforts to carry the longevity of excellence in every key functional area with an objective to achieve customer delight. On completion of one year of operations, Air Costa announced that it would soon go pan-India with a different business model. In December last, for the first time it made operational profits and subsequently the airline added cargo operations to shore up its revenues. Air Cargo Update spoke to the Chairman of Air Costa, Ramesh Lingamaneni and the CEO, Capt. K.N. Babu who explained as to how they would like to leverage the cargo business. Excerpts from an interview: When did you start air cargo operations? Chairman: Air Costa has expanded its reach with the launch of Air Costa Cargo which caters to the domestic air cargo vertical by providing efficient air freight transportation across its stations. Our core strength relies on our efficiency, quality of service and reliability and we have channelized the same to provide our customers with a hassle free transportation experience. Our modern aircraft fleet coupled with the operational expertise of handling aircraft makes us one of the most trusted brands in the aviation vertical. We strive to improve our services continuously through an experienced management team and more importantly through the valuable feedback received from our customers. Air Costa Cargo commenced its operations in December 2014, and is currently operational at Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati in the South along with Ahmedabad and Jaipur in the West and the North respectively. Customers can book cargo through our offices or through our authorized agents. How did you start the operations? CEO: Cargo is an integral part of civil aviation and moving passengers and cargo together, completes the circle of an airline operations. Moreover the demand for
carriage of cargo was also quite high and encouraging. Sovika Group has partnered with Air Costa as our authorized Cargo Agent for pan India operations. Sovika would be completely responsible for generation of sales, documents check as well as acceptance of cargo at designated warehouses across the country. The cargo would be carried on Air Costa flights. What is the belly hold capacity of Embraer E-170 and E-190? CEO : The belly hold capacity of our fleet is listed as follows: Embraer E-170 – 2056 kg Embraer E-190 – 3500 kg What has been the response to your cargo operations? CEO: As we started our operations in December 2014, it would be too early to comment on exact figures and analysis since the project is still at a nascent stage. However, we have a clear vision towards becoming an established player in the cargo vertical in the coming years. We have tied up with Sovika Group by targeting to carry around 500 tonnes of cargo a month in the unused belly space of the aircraft and it has started contributing to the airline’s revenue stream via ancillary revenues starting December. Do you see potential for air cargo growth and how is Air Costa planning to capitalize on that? CEO: The Indian air cargo vertical is on a high growth trajectory and it will continue to be fuelled by favourable factors. According to a KPMG report, the average weightload factor of air cargo in the last five years has been approximately 62 per cent which implies that there is still room for growth. We may see a fleet size of 800 by 2020 by Indian carriers which further strengthens the argument that the air cargo sector is indeed flourishing despite the industry being overtaxed, coupled with the availability of poor infrastructure facilities. Relaxation of FDI norms is a good sign as it will give a much needed boost to the sector by bringing in required capital and expertise What type of cargo is generally carried and by which sectors? CEO: We usually carry cargo that falls under the ‘General’ category across all the stations. Any special cargo you have carried till now? CEO: Shrimps are being transported as a special commodity from Visakhapatnam. Apart from that, we have been transporting high value e-commerce shipments across the network.
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