Cargo export from the Tiruchi international airport is set to grow further with the Malaysian-based hybrid airline Malindo Air beginning to lift cargo from here.
Malindo Air is the fifth international carrier to carry cargo from the Tiruchi airport after Sri Lankan Airlines, Tiger Airways, Air Asia and Air India. The first shipment of 115 kg of conch shells was dispatched to Penang on Tuesday through Malindo Air which operates daily flights to Kuala Lumpur from Tiruchi.
Nine months after it launched its operations from Tiruchi, the airline has begun to lift cargo now. The joint Malaysia – Indonesia airline started operating daily flights from Tiruchi on January 2.
Airport sources say the uplift capacity from Tiruchi had been added with the Malindo Air’s decision to lift cargo. The available belly space in the airline’s 737-900 ER series aircrafts would be utilised to export cargo from Tiruchi. It is expected that 1.5 to 2 tonnes of cargo could be loaded in the available belly space for export.
Officials hope that the cargo movements would get a further push once the Malindo Air establishes the Kuala Lumpur – Singapore connection. “We are expecting in the days to come more cargo from Tiruchi market which looks better”, says Nagalakshmi Vijayan, Manager – Cargo, Malindo Air. Ninety per cent of cargo exported from the Tiruchi airport are perishable commodities such as vegetables, flowers and fruits with the remaining being leather items, fabric, garments, food stuff and miscellaneous items. The consignments are exported to a host of nations such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Kuwait, Dubai, Male, Hong Kong, Seoul, Melbourne, Sydney and China. Colombo is a major transshipment point from where cargo is dispatched to several other overseas destinations including Kuwait.
A senior official said some pooja items, handicrafts, tobacco products and flowers were presently being exported to Kuala Lumpur. Ever since the air cargo terminal was commissioned in 2011, the volume of exports had increased gradually. The exports rose from 2,891 metric tonnes in 2012-13 fiscal to 4,715 tonnes in 2013-14.