Govt plans common IT platform for air cargo stakeholders (Eds: Adding a para after para 7)

The government is working on a common IT platform for stakeholders in the domestic air cargo segment, which is projected to see increased growth in the next few years.
The country's domestic air cargo sector has been growing at 7 per cent, while the international air cargo segment has been clipping at 12 per cent.
The overall average growth is around 10 per cent, which is still twice the average growth rate of the global air cargo business, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said today.
"We are developing a common framework for movement of air cargo across all stakeholders," he said, adding that the same is expected to be in place in one-and-a-half years.

The work has started on a common IT platform for air cargo stakeholders and once it is in place, movement of air cargo would be far more easier.
"Our idea is to create a unified platform where all these can be together. This is a very challenging task...," Choubey said.

Instead of individual players dealing with cargo, if there is a common platform which covers freighters, airport operators, airlines and security agencies, among others, then transaction would be much faster, he added.
Choubey also said common user cargo terminals are expected to be created at 17 airports.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the domestic air cargo sector is projected to grow at over 9 per cent in the next few years.

They were speaking at the India Integrated Transport and Logistics Summit here.
The government has taken various policy initiatives including reducing the dwell time and pushing for paperless transactions to boost the cargo sector, Raju noted.
"Air cargo in India is expected to register 9 per cent growth rate in the next few years" compared to half of this figure for global air cargo trade as a whole, he said.
Noting that various initiatives are being taken in the aviation sector, Raju said the regional connectivity scheme would help in continued growth of the air cargo sector.
The first flight under the scheme, known as UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik), was launched last month. The scheme seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying more affordable.

Under the scheme, fares are capped at Rs 2,500 for one hour flights and participating airlines are also provided with various incentives.
At the event, Shipping Secretary Rajive Kumar said multi-modal hubs are being developed and Varanasi is going to be the first such hub.
He also emphasised on the need to seriously look at the logistics cost.