GURUGRAM, Northwest India: December 31, 2019. SpiceXpress has begun operating a B737 freighter to Hong Kong and Dubai with the carriage of two tonnes of Mandarin oranges from Guwahati on behalf of the Assam government’s Industry & Commerce Department and several growers’ associations.

SpiceFresh, part of SpiceJet, specialises in perishables traffic throughout India and international markets. The company says it will provide daily service Hong Kong with 18-tonne freighter flights split between Guwahati and Kolkata. Both destinations will use SpiceXpress and SpiceJet aircraft.

The SpiceFresh operation is prompted by the growth in perishables exports from North East India including Stevia and Okra.

Currently only one percent of the region’s agriculture is exported due to poor infrastructure that the airline says it now hopes to improve.