Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo has added a weekly cargo flight from Chennai to Amsterdam and two more weekly cargo flights from Mumbai to Amsterdam, says the company, reported The Hindu daily of Chennai, according to Shipping Gazette.
"We have decided to reinforce the presence of full freighters in India. The first few flights have been full," company vice president Christophe Albert Boucher told a press conference.
Mr Boucher said the additional flights would add 40 tonnes of capacity a week to Mumbai while capacity from Chennai would remain the same at 20 tonnes a week.
"The idea is not to increase capacity tremendously, but get a set up where we can better optimise our presence. The idea is to maximise the profitability of the flight," Mr Boucher said.
While pharmaceutical products remain important, Air France-KLM-Martinair Cargo, the dedicated cargo business of the Air France-KLM Group, is also trying to see that it gets mail and couriers on board.
"As an industry the issue is not only to get the freighter full but to get the right cargo at the right rates," he said.
Apart from operating full freighter aircraft, the Air France-KLM Group is also using the using the space available on regular commercial flights that Air France-KLM operates to various Indian cities to transport cargo.
Side stepping a question on reports that airline plans to dump the cargo business, Mr Boucher said: "Is there a decision? No. If you look at profitability of full freighters they are not profitable. At the moment our target in India is to optimise the capacity to keep on flying in a profitable way."
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