Gujarat has 11 airports that include Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, and Bhuj.Gujarat-based airports witnessed 12.1% increase in cargo traffic during 2018-19 compared to the previous fiscal due to improved air connectivity in domestic as well as international destinations coupled with the increase in exports of pharma products and commodities from Ahmedabad airport.
Air cargo traffic from Gujarat has gone up from 94.50 thousand tonne in 2017-18 to 105.93 thousand tonne in 2018-19, said a senior officer in the state industries department, adding that during the first six months of current fiscal, already 57.35 thousand tonne air cargo traffic has been registered, and it is likely to cross 110 thousand tonne by the end of the financial year.
Gujarat has 11 airports that include Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhuj, Kandla, Mundra, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Porbandar and keshod. However, international air cargoes are being handled from the Ahmedabad International Airport only.
“As against domestic air cargo traffic of 53,214 tonne during fiscal 2017-18, these airports registered transportation of 60,345 tonne of goods in 2018-19. As far as international air cargoes are concerned, Ahmedabad airport witnessed cargo traffic of 45,483 tonne in 2018-19 compared to previous year’s 41,266 tonne,” said the official.
There has been considerable increase in exports of pharma products as well as perishable commodities from Ahmedabad airport to all across the globe, says Samir Shah, chairman of Ahmedabad Custom House Agents’ Association. “Most of the international passenger flights are carrying air cargo. Besides, recently three fixed freighters (dedicated air cargo flights) have been started from Ahmedabad by two renowned airlines. As a result of it, local traders started exporting from Ahmedabad instead of Mumbai,” he added.
Shah, who is also a managing committee member of Air Cargo Agents Association of India, said that earlier pharma and some of the commodities were used to be transported by road from different locations of Gujarat to Mumbai airport, and from there goods were loaded for different international locations.
With an increase in number of international flights and availability of fixed freighters, local exporters are saving huge money on transportation of goods to Mumbai by road, he added. According to him, the number of domestic passenger flights has also increased from Gujarat airports, and it has improved domestic air cargo movement as well.
Domestic passenger aircraft departures from Gujarat-based airports were 97,644 during 2018-19 compared to previous year’s 78,929. In the case of international flights, it was 14,556 departures against 13,142 during the same period a year ago. The number of passengers travelling from Gujarat-based airports went up from 115.30 lakh to as high as 142.58 lakh during the period, indicating an increase of 23.7%.
