Pradhaan Air Express, a cargo airline that doesn't have a set schedule, wants to grow its fleet of freighter planes to eight by the year 2028. They plan to include four larger planes to take advantage of the significant opportunities in the cargo transport industry.
Right now, none of the cargo airlines in India have big wide-body planes. Pradhaan Air Express, a cargo airline based in Delhi, started its services last year, and they currently have one smaller plane that they've converted into a freighter for carrying cargo.
“Will eventually fly four narrow-body and four wide-body aircraft,” Pradhaan Air's Chief Business Officer Vipul Bhalla told CNBC-TV18 at the sidelines of the Air Cargo Forum’s (ACFI) 2023 conclave.
Bhalla said that Pradhaan Air will add another narrow-body in the next few months and add two more A321s by 2024.
“The first of the four wide-body A330 aircraft will arrive in 2025,” Bhalla said.
He added that the airline will take these aircraft on lease as new orders are taking a long time for delivery due to supply-chain issues.
Currently India has only five dedicated air cargo operators including Blue Dart that has six planes, SpiceXpress has three planes followed by IndiGo Cargo and Quickjet both having two aircraft each.