Lufthansa, China's Jade in talks to fly cargo to India

FRANKFURT: Lufthansa Cargo AG, an autonomous division of Germany's national passenger and cargo carrier Lufthansa Group AG, has said it is in talks with a Chinese cargo carrier to bring cargo in and out of India.

"China and India are two of the most strategic and important markets for Lufthansa Cargo. We are currently speaking with Jade Airways to fly in cargo from Shanghai to India," Martin V. Schlingensiepen, vice president (Asia-Pacific), Lufthansa Cargo, told a visiting IANS correspondent.

The Chinese cargo airline Jade Cargo International was founded in 2004 by Lufthansa Cargo, which holds 25 percent operational equity stake in it.

With a transport volume of more than 1.76 million tonnes of freight and mail Lufthansa currently operates a fleet of 19 of its own aircraft and has several other freighters on charter.

He however did not rule out partnering with other airlines to boost its cargo business in India.

"Lufthansa Cargo sees India as a key air cargo market with a huge growth potential. Thus Lufthansa Cargo is currently negotiating with different Indian airlines to build up a cooperation in the air cargo business," he said.

In 2006-07 the company registered revenues of 2.84 million euros and profits of 81 million euros. The company works in partnership with other cargo carriers.

"In India we face huge challenges with its infrastructural bottleneck, and from this perspective I believe the Chinese market is more experienced and matured," Schlingensiepen said.

"We continue to face tax and legal constraints as well, but we still want to be a significant player in India's booming aviation sector and economical growth," he added.

The company is looking at exploring the possibility of launching cargo ground handling operations in India in partnership with other airlines. It is also bullish in India's second-tier cities where he believes there is huge potential in terms of transporting goods.

Lufthansa Cargo is also eagerly waiting for the new Bangalore and Hyderabad airports to come up that would act as major cargo hubs for the company.

It is also in talks with Jet Airways to launch a full-fledged cargo airline. Jet, in the meantime, has already announced its plans to launch its own cargo airline by the end of this year.

Both Lufthansa Cargo and Jet Airways are also exploring possibilities to ship cargo on their regular flights in and out to Germany.

Air India is also starting its cargo operations from June 15 on the Frankfurt and Paris routes and not ruled adding more destinations in future.