MUMBAI: November 27, 2018. Jet Airways has entered the global record books for the highest uplift of cargo by an Indian carrier in a single flight.

The airline uplifted 45 tons of cargo on one of its flights on the Mumbai-London sector operated by a B777-300ER aircraft. The record is globally significant as only two other international carriers have previously operated a flight each with a cargo complement of over 40 tonnes on a such an aircraft.

The record cargo comprised of product mix including perishables (fruits and vegetables), engineering goods, garments, courier, leather goods and consolidation cargo.

Speaking about the achievement, Pradeep Kumar, Sr. vice-president, Jet Airways Cargo said, “Air cargo is a vital part of the business at Jet Airways and this milestone is testament to our dedicated focus of growing cargo revenues, which has recorded a CAGR of more than 15 percent in the past three years. Jet Airways operates B777-300’s on the India – United Kingdom route, which allow us to carry over 100 tonnes of cargo daily. The air cargo market between India and the United Kingdom is growing rapidly at over 14 percent in the past three years, in sync with passenger loads on the sector.”

Mr. Pradeep Kumar added, “Cargo revenues improved up to 18 percent vis-à-vis last year while the yields improved by 17 percent. This is a significant growth in comparison to similar airlines, since we are a combination carrier with a varied fleet of B737s and wide-bodies comprising B777-300 ER’s and A330-200/300 aircrafts. This growth has been achieved by changing the traffic mix, market segmentation, product mix, and, improved utilization of available capacity both on our wide body and narrow body aircrafts.”

Cargo services from Jet Airways have contributed to the development of agriculture and trade in the country by enhancing the farmer’s access to overseas markets via exports of fresh produce, especially exotic, high-end fruits such as kiwi, strawberry, pineapples, dragon fruit, mango, among others, directly to various markets including Europe as well as the Gulf. The airline’s pan-India network has also improved access for farmers from the country’s North East, enabling them to export fresh produce directly from Guwahati to Dubai via Delhi as trans-shipment hub for completion of export formalities.