IndiGo CarGo Expands Network with Launch of New Freighter Service to China

Aiming to broaden its global reach, IndiGo CarGo has declared the beginning of freighter services between Kolkata, India, and Ezhou, China.

Chief Commercial Officer Cargo Mark Sutch says that these flights will run three times a week between Ezhou Huahu Airport (EHU) and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU) in Hubei Province, central China.

"Officiating at the launch of IndiGo CarGo's latest phase of its international freighter strategy was a great pleasure," Sutch said in a LinkedIn post last week. "This week we opened a new thrice-weekly freighter service between Kolkata in India and Ezhou in China's Hubei Province."

He stated, "For our customers, the airport's central China location offers extensive reach via road feed service to multiple China metros."

According to the airline's website, IndiGo has two passenger flights each day between New Delhi and Guangzhou, but this is the carrier's first freighter service to China.

Sutch did not identify the aircraft being utilized, but according to data from Planespotters, IndiGo's fleet presently consists of three leased Airbus A321 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) planes. October 2022 saw the delivery of the first, December 2022 for the second, and October 2023 for the third.

By the end of 2022, IndiGo CarGo launched its inaugural A321P2F service between Delhi and Mumbai. Leasing from Castlelake Aviation Holdings (Ireland) Limited, the aircraft can carry up to 27 tons of cargo. Its conversion was made possible by a joint venture between ST Engineering and Airbus, known as Elbe FlugzeugWerke (EFW).

Furthermore, this month, IndiGo CarGo and Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP) announced an interline arrangement that would give IndiGo access to the larger global network of the firm with its headquarters located in Paris and increase AFFKLMP's market share in India.