With the increasing patronage of frequent flyers, Belagavi Airport has turned out to be a busy airport in the State Buoyed, the authorities are focusing on augmenting the Cargo service from the airport.
For now, SpiceJet is the lone airline providing Cargo service from Belagavi, but the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is confident of bringing more operators in the loop, once it gets approval from the Bureau of Civil Aviations and Security (BCAS).
The Cargo Logistics and Al lied Services of the Airports Authority of India (AAI-CLAS), a subsidiary of AAI which is managing Cargo services at the International and domestic airports started the at the cargo services at airport here in July 2019. Spice Jet was the lone airlines which was providing the service. However, the service was stopped due to lockdown from March to June 2020. After relaxing lockdown restrictions, Cargo service resumed at the airport and is receiving a good response.
According to AAI statistics, four metric tonnes of goods was airlifted from Belagavi in July 2020, followed by 6.3 metric tonnes in August, 94 metric tonnes in September, 8.8 metric tonnes in October, 10 metric tonnes in November and 8.5 metric tonnes in December
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AAI tweeted that “despite fluctuations in the tonnage handled at Belagavi airport. the Cargo Logistics and Allied Services team is working hard during COVID 19 situation to ensure the timely delivery of perishable and essential goods with 100% care through the safest mode of travel”. The airport officials also said that there is a good po-tential for Cargo in Belagavi. All the agencies are working hard for cargo movement through the terminal building”
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Airport director Rajesh Kumar Maurya said The Cargo service must have to pass through terminal building at airports which are under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
The BCAS team has already made inspection of a terminal building in November last year. Once we get the approval, we are hoping that at least four airlines will start Cargo services from the airport, as there is a huge potential in Belagavi and there will be good quantum in Cargo movement. We have also identified 1200 square metres of land for building a Cargo shed’ he said.
Article Source : The New Indian Express | By : Sunil Patil
