In a bid to boost their revenues, two of the country’s leading airlines –

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Air India and Jet Airways — plan to increase their cargo operations on international routes. Air India is banking on increasing the belly capacity of its passenger aircraft, while Jet plans to further boost the business by deploying part of the capacity of its around half a dozen leased out aircraft which will be returned over the next two years for the cargo business.

National carrier Air India, which will be hiving off its cargo business in to an autonomous unit by April 1, as part of the restructuring exercise, has chalked out an aggressive expansion plan.

“We are planning to increase the belly capacity of our aircraft and also operate existing freighter aircraft for more number of hours to boost revenue from the cargo business,” Anita Khurana, cargo SBU head, Air India told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. Jet Airways, which does not have dedicated freighter aircraft, too is working on optimising the belly space of its passenger aircraft. “We expect to get back some of the leased aircraft in the next two years and consequently raise cargo capacity,” said Jay Shelat, vice president – cargo, Jet Airways.

The Air India cargo unit will cater to the cargo market in both the domestic and international markets. Air India Cargo contributes around eight per cent to the total revenues of National Aviation Company of India, the entity created by the merger of Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines. The newly carved cargo unit will have a fleet of eight aircraft - six Boeing 737s and two A 310 Airbus aircrafts. Air India is working on converting B 737 aircraft currently used for cargo and passenger service into freight and would be replacing the two A310 freighters in next two to three years.

The country’s largest private carrier, Jet Airways, is looking at deriving 9 to 9.5 per cent of its consolidated revenue from cargo operations, domestic and international in two years time. “Cargo business growth will come on the back of an increased demand, both domestically and internationally,” said Shelat. He further added that the cargo business contributes to around 7.7 to 8 per cent of revenue of the company -- 12 per cent from international carriage and four per cent from domestic. “We expect this to go up to 9-9.5 per cent (14-15 per cent international and 5-6 per cent domestic), over the next 24-months," said Shelat.

Air India, which had stopped cargo flights to Europe and Japan last September, plans to resume those services in the first half of this calendar year, Khurana added. The International Air Transport Association in its financial outlook for 2010 said said: “Cargo demand is rising faster than world trade as depleted inventories are rebuilt. Once the inventory cycle completes, growth is expected to fall back in line with world trade.”

Air India sees cargo growth in routes to Germany and the United States of America. Jet Airways, on the other hand, will be adding a cargo destination on Delhi-Mumbai-Johannesburg route from April 5, this year, said Shelat.