AAI set to create infrastructure for cargo complex at Tiruchi Airport

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has set in motion the process of creating the necessary infrastructure for the air cargo complex at the Tiruchi Airport.

According to sources, the AAI was taking steps to establish a cargo transhipment godown and also a cold storage at the airport, to facilitate the functioning of the cargo complex. All standard facilities that were required for an air cargo complex would be established at the airport, the sources said. The facilities are to be established at the old terminal building adjacent to the new terminal building at the airport complex.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs has already issued the notification permitting “unloading of imported goods and loading of export goods or any class of such goods,' at the airport.

Establishment of a cargo complex at the airport was a need of the air operators and travel industry, who have been claiming that there was potential for cargo movement from the city.

On Thursday, a two-member team of the AAI comprising Y.K.Goel, General Manager, Cargo, AAI, New Delhi, and C.P.Singh, General Manager, Corporate Planning and Management Services, AAI, visited the airport to assess the potential for cargo movement and the requirements at the airport.

The AAI team held a meeting with representatives of airlines, trade and industry, including representatives from the Karur textile manufacturing units, to elicit their views on the potential for cargo movement from the airport. There was a general consensus about the “good potential” for export of handmade garments from Karur, equipment and machinery to and from the fabrication units of Tiruchi, and perishables such as vegetables. Various related issues on the movement of cargo and facilities that have to be created at the airport were discussed at the meeting.

According to sources, the response from the industry has been positive. The cargo godown and cold storage are likely to be established within 45 to 60 days, after the approval was obtained from the AAI. Once the infrastructure was created, the Customs Department would have to approve the same and post the manpower for the functioning of the air cargo complex.

Currently 1,000 tonnes of cargo, mostly perishables, are sent to three permitted foreign destinations from the Tiruchi airport a year. Once a new cargo terminal was established, the airport could grow into a import/export hub catering to the central and southern districts.

It was estimated that in two years, the air cargo complex could handle about 6,000 to 7,000 tonnes of cargo a year, according to projections made prior to the Customs notification on establishing the air cargo complex here.