New Cargo Pradhaan Air Express starts operations on A320 P2F in India

Interestingly, the most recent airline to enter the Indian aviation market is an all-cargo carrier. Pradhan Air Express operated its first commercial flight earlier this month and has transported cargo domestically and internationally. After the COVID pandemic, even existing passenger carriers have been dabbling in air cargo, which has changed India’s perception of the industry.

Pradhan Air takes flight.

On October 1st, India’s newest all-cargo airline commenced commercial operations with a domestic trip between Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM), returning the same day. The airline commemorated the event with a brief ceremony before the flight’s departure, which was on social media.

Founder & CEO of Pradhan Air Express, Nipun Anand, is quoted in Mint as saying,

“We are delighted to launch commercial operations with the Airbus A320 Freighter.”

Since then, the A320 cargo has been busy with local and international flights. Pradhan Air launched its maiden international flight on the Delhi-Hanoi-Delhi route on October 9th.

Anand expressed satisfaction with the customer reaction and hopes to offer charter flights to many more places in the future.

The world’s first A320 Changed as a freighter Jet.

Pradhan Air bought the plane in July and will receive another later this year. It is the world’s first Airbus A320 P2F aircraft, named “Pehelwan” (wrestler in Hindi), and was upgraded early this year in Singapore.

I leased it from Vaayu Group/Astral Aviation and the modification at the Singapore site of Elbe Flugzeugwerke, a joint venture of ST Engineering and Airbus.

ST Engineering announced a lease arrangement with Vaayu Group in February for up to five Airbus A320 Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) aircraft, and Astral Aviation, a cargo airline, located in Nairobi, Kenya, was named the launch operator.

Nipun Anand, the founder of airline general sales firm Zeal Global Corporation, will launch the airline situated at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Blue Dart Aviation

While India is a global aviation leader, most of its traffic is from passengers. Blue Dart Aviation, located in Chennai, South India, has been the country’s only significant all-cargo airline for many years.

However, attitudes are altering, particularly in the aftermath of the epidemic, with significant airlines demanding a piece of the action. IndiGo recently took delivery of its first all-cargo jet, an Airbus A321P2F. During the COVID epidemic, the airline began playing with the notion of a dedicated cargo fleet, understanding the untapped potential of this market. SpiceJet has also dabbled in the freight market with SpiceXpress, a cash-positive venture with a $5.6 million net profit.

While India is still far behind in having a dominating freight carrier, it would be intriguing to watch if these initiatives lead to something more substantial in the coming years.