Air India operates a mix of Airbus A350/Boeing 777 aircraft on its US and Canada routes from Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru
| Photo Credit:
TOBY MELVILLE
The closure of Pakistan airspace has forced Air India to reroute its flights to the US and increased the fuel burn. For passengers, longer duration flights can mean inconvenience.
But there is one silver lining. The one-stop operations to US/Canada via Europe has given Air India an opportunity to carry extra cargo.
Air India operates a mix of Airbus A350/Boeing 777 aircraft on its US and Canada routes from Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. While the Mumbai-New York/Newark flights are again being converted into non-stops, those originating from Delhi are taking a refuelling halt in Vienna or Copenhagen.
Fuel uplift on non-stop flights from Delhi to the US/Canada varies from 90-130 tonnes depending upon aircraft type, destination and prevailing winds. But a transit halt in Europe reduces the fuel uplift from Delhi providing more space for cargo. One-stop flights to US/Canada via Europe creates an opportunity to carry 15-18 tonnes of cargo that is 2-3 times more than what it takes on a non-stop flight.
Sources said Air India has already begun reaching out to freight forwarders offering them space on its outbound flights. It will take time for loads to build up as forwarders book spaces two to three weeks in advance, they added.
There were some early gains too with Air India transporting mangoes on its one-stop Mumbai-US flights last week.
“In the past week alone we have exported 20 tonnes of mangoes to various destinations in the US using different Air India flights. Traditionally, while we have utilised Air India’s flights to San Francisco, for shipments bound for cities like New York limited payload availability on non-stop services often necessitated the use of foreign carriers,” said Kaushal Khakhar, CEO of Kaybee Exports. Khakhar said their firm has already exported 350 tonnes of mangoes of across 8-10 varieties this season and hopes to surpass 1,200 tonnes by June, exceeding last year’s total.
Published on May 8, 2025
Air India operates a mix of Airbus A350/Boeing 777 aircraft on its US and Canada routes from Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru
| Photo Credit:
TOBY MELVILLE
The closure of Pakistan airspace has forced Air India to reroute its flights to the US and increased the fuel burn. For passengers, longer duration flights can mean inconvenience.
But there is one silver lining. The one-stop operations to US/Canada via Europe has given Air India an opportunity to carry extra cargo.
Air India operates a mix of Airbus A350/Boeing 777 aircraft on its US and Canada routes from Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. While the Mumbai-New York/Newark flights are again being converted into non-stops, those originating from Delhi are taking a refuelling halt in Vienna or Copenhagen.
Fuel uplift on non-stop flights from Delhi to the US/Canada varies from 90-130 tonnes depending upon aircraft type, destination and prevailing winds. But a transit halt in Europe reduces the fuel uplift from Delhi providing more space for cargo. One-stop flights to US/Canada via Europe creates an opportunity to carry 15-18 tonnes of cargo that is 2-3 times more than what it takes on a non-stop flight.
Sources said Air India has already begun reaching out to freight forwarders offering them space on its outbound flights. It will take time for loads to build up as forwarders book spaces two to three weeks in advance, they added.
There were some early gains too with Air India transporting mangoes on its one-stop Mumbai-US flights last week.
“In the past week alone we have exported 20 tonnes of mangoes to various destinations in the US using different Air India flights. Traditionally, while we have utilised Air India’s flights to San Francisco, for shipments bound for cities like New York limited payload availability on non-stop services often necessitated the use of foreign carriers,” said Kaushal Khakhar, CEO of Kaybee Exports. Khakhar said their firm has already exported 350 tonnes of mangoes of across 8-10 varieties this season and hopes to surpass 1,200 tonnes by June, exceeding last year’s total.
Published on May 8, 2025
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The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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