Sandeep Joshi
NEW DELHI: To improve its efficiency in the north-eastern States, the Department of Posts (DoP) has acquired an airplane from Air India that will operate a daily cargo flight carrying parcels, courier, speed post and letters to the seven States in the region.
The operation of the cargo aircraft will begin within a month after the Boeing 737 taken on lease from Air India returns from the U.S. after being converted into a cargo plane and equipped with necessary gadgets required to load and unload courier packets and other items.
“IndiaPost will fly this cargo plane daily from Kolkata in the morning, drop courier packets and parcels at Agartala and Imphal to return to Kolkata in the evening,” informed a senior DoP official, adding that at present at least 100 tonnes of cargo was being booked daily for the seven north-eastern States and is likely to grow further in coming months.
“This will be the first time that a dedicated cargo plane will carry courier packets and letters to these seven States. It generally takes four to seven days to deliver letters and parcels to these States, but the new cargo service will steeply reduce this time. The potential is huge and the new service will help DoP serve these States better,” the official said, adding that IndiaPost would also take bookings from private courier companies for these States.
Stating that the maintenance and operation of the aircraft would be done by the pilots and engineers of Air India, the DoP official said their job would be handling and delivery of parcels, letters and couriers for which the department would make payments to Air India.
He disclosed that a second cargo plane would also be pressed into service within the next three to four months that would cater to the needs of the four Metros. “Though we have planned to fly the first plane to the four Metros at night till the second one is made available to us, it will only be known once the service begins.”
