Reliance Retail is looking to enter the freight transport market for perishable goods in north India from next year.

This comes amid reports that the company is planning to place an order for about 50 freighters from aircraft manufacturer Boeing on a sale-lease-buyback programme.

Aviation industry experts were cited in The Economic Times saying that the company's foray into the air cargo market would effectively "alter the structure of this relatively nascent industry" in India.

It said that at present, there are only eight dedicated freight forwarders to move air cargo to and from the country. If Reliance were to come onto the scene, it would increase the size of the national fleet sevenfold.

Options include the establishment of a dedicated airfreight airport in Punjab to deliver fresh farm produce to retail outlets nationwide, and the use of smaller airstrips in numerous states.

Reliance could face stiffer competition when it enters India's airfreight industry as the market is also drawing attention from Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Air Deccan, GoAir, and national carriers Air India and Indian, which are said to be keen to enter the market over the next year.

Other large retailers in India, including the Tata group, Birla group, Bharti and Kishore Biyani's Future groups, have also been giving indications about entering the market with plans to purchase cargo aircraft to speed up the flow of their supply chains.

UAL posts Q4 loss of US$61m

UAL Corporation, the holding company of United Airlines, has reported an after-tax net loss of US$61 million for the fourth quarter of the 2006 calendar year. Excluding re-organisation and special items, this constituted a year-on-year improvement of $234 million.

For the 11 months ended December 31, 2006, the newly re-organised UAL posted a net income of $25 million, excluding re-organisation expenses, versus the corresponding eleven month period of 2005.

The company's cash and short-term investments position was $5 billion at the end of last year, including $847 million of restricted cash, a company statement said.

In the fourth quarter, the company generated operating revenues from cargo of $193 million, a decline of 4.9 per cent compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Total revenues for the fourth quarter increased five per cent, or $200 million, to $4.6 billion. In contrast, total operating expense, excluding special items, increased by only $1 million, on a three per cent increase in consolidated capacity as compared to the fourth quarter of 2005.

Operating margin improved 4.6 points to 0.5 per cent from a negative 4.1 per cent in the comparable quarter the year before. Mainline unit earnings increased to 0.07 cents from a negative 0.28 cents a year ago.