After a two-year hiatus, domestic air cargo business seeing an uptick

As airlines expand capacity and seek global partnerships

In March 2020, ahead of the nationwide lockdown for Covid, domestic airlines operated all of 11 freighters. Today, that number has swelled to 16 (see chart) as Indian carriers add capacity to grow market share and shore up declining yields against rising competition from road transport in domestic and foreign carriers on overseas routes.

There has, in fact, been heightened activity in the business in recent months after a near-two-year hiatus.

Consider these:

·         In March, air cargo and courier major Blue Dart inducted two Boeing 737 freighters, taking its fleet count to eight. From May,