First Flight Couriers to expand in state

First Flight Couriers Ltd, one of India's leading courier companies, has targeted to expand its presence to all the district headquarter towns in the country by the end of 2010-11.

If achieved, this would position the company only next to India Post in terms of pan-India reach.

First Flight is currently the biggest courier operator in the country as far as volume of shipment is concerned. It handled 100 million parcels in 2009-10

The company is betting big on the rapidly expanding market for courier services in India which is estimated at Rs 10,000 crore and is posting a year-on-year growth of about 20 per cent. The growth in the courier services market will be driven by the robust growth of sectors like banking, insurance, retail and textiles.

Addressing media persons here, O P Saboo, chairman and managing director, First Flight, said, “Our target is to set up an office in every district headquarter of the country by the end of this fiscal. This expansion plan will take our overall employee strength from 12000 at present to 14000.”

Presently, the company has a network of 930 offices, 2208 authorized collection centres and 452 franchisee locations serving over 5000 pin code destinations across the country.

First Flight also aims to extend its parcel division facility to 25 more cities in the country by the end of the current financial year.

Currently, such divisions are located in major cities of the country like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Jaipur.

Under the parcel division facility, the company will offer an exclusive and spacious hub for non-doc shipments which will be handled by a dedicated and experienced team. There will also be dedicated vehicles for direct pick-up and delivery. Besides, the company will offer secured operations with close circuit televisions (CCTVs), access control entry and stringent security.

“First Flight also expects its turnover to cross Rs 500 crore by the end of 2010-11 up from around Rs 400 crore which we achieved in the last fiscal. In Orissa, our turnover is set to go up from Rs four crore to Rs five crore by the end of this fiscal”, said Saboo.

The company which has 21 offices in Orissa at present will set up 10-15 new offices before the end of the current financial year.

These offices, which will employ an additional 500 persons, will come up in the uncovered districts like Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Nuapada.