Air India Express Helping Farmers with its Cargo-in-Cabin Initiative

Air India Express (AIE) is lending a hand to the agriculture sector by starting the Cargo-in-Cabin service through their Boeing-737-800 fleet. Under this initiative, flights will transport agricultural produce, chiefly fruits and vegetables, to Gulf countries.  

This move has come at a time when flights are being cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. Transport of perishable agricultural produce is suffering due to this. AIE has decided to help farmers and traders by ramping up its cargo operations and moving the produce to international places.  

Where is the cargo stored on flights? 

According to AIE officials, cargo is stored on passenger seats, in the legroom, and overhead bin. Till now, AIE has operated 12 Cargo-in-Cabin flights. Most of them are from South Indian cities like Chennai, Kochi, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, and Kozhikode. These flights carry fresh fruits and vegetables, which are some of the most demanded items among the NRIs.  

Between April 1 and May 5, AIE special flights moved 1930 tonnes of cargo.  

Objectives of Cargo-in-Cabin service  

The main objective is to help farmers and traders supply their products to the user destinations. Apart from this, the service aims to decrease stress that has been caused on the supply chains due to the pandemic.  

According to sources, AIE transported 98 tonnes of cargo, which included 20 tonnes of mangoes, on May 6. This was an all-time high for the airline.  

As per a statement by AIE official, “these are tough times. The challenges posed by this extraordinary situation require innovative responses from each one of us. When the pandemic-induced crisis started to disrupt shipments of perishables, causing loss to farmers and traders, we decided to ramp up our daily cargo operations.” 

Normal flights are cancelled 

Kerala exports about 150 tonnes of fruits and vegetables daily to traditional markets of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, and others from its three airports: Kochi, Kozhikode, and Thiruvananthapuram.  

However, due to Covid pandemic, these flights are cancelled. This has led to severe disruptions in the cargo movement to these countries.