EU mango ban will not impact cargo: Airlines

Air India, Jet Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways chiefly carry mangoes to London

Airlines say the European Union (EU)'s ban on mangoes from India will not impact their cargo business.

"Airlines will try to fill the aircraft belly with other persihables and general cargo and I expect some to drop rates,'' said Subhash Parab, director of Pomona Cargo Movers dealing in mango exports.

Mango exports begin from mid-April and continue till June. About 80 tonnes of mangoes are shipped daily mainly to London and Frankfurt during May. Air India, Jet Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways mainly carry mangoes to London. Emirates SkyCargo carries 15 tonnes of mangoes daily from India to Europe.

"The ban will reduce our mango uplift from India but we don't rely only on the movement of mangoes. India has several other round-the-year air-cargo commodities. So, it will be business as usual,'' said Keki Patel, cargo manager (India). The airline offers a weekly cargo capacity of 3,000 tonnes.

An Air India (AI) executive said the airline transported cargo to London and Frankfurt and will not face problems as it flies the Boeing 787 which has smaller payload (10 tonnes) compared to 777 (30 tonnes), which was used on the route.

"Filling the belly will not be an issue.'' AI carries four-five tonnes of mangoes daily from Mumbai to London and four tonnes to Frankfurt each week via Delhi in these two months. Gulf Air said, "We do not expect a big impact on the airline's shipments from India.”