SpiceXpress: From letters to credit cards to organs, SpiceJet will now fly almost everything

SpiceJet will now transport letters, credit cards, bloods, organs and what not. The airline has announced the launch of its dedicated air cargo services today under the brand name SpiceXpress. The airline has also inducted its first freighter aircraft at the IGI airport in Delhi today.  (Twitter image)

SpiceXpress will launch operations on September 18, 2018. To begin with the air cargo operations will cover Delhi, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Hong Kong, Kabul and Amritsar. The first freighter aircraft to be inducted by SpiceJet is a Boeing 737-700.  (Twitter image)

"The service will address time and temperature sensitive shipments across verticals, like letters and credit cards under banking, blood, organs, and medicines under pharma. Other shipments would include automobiles, apparels, consumer electronics, e-commerce and live animals. Besides, the airline will also ship perishables like farm fresh fruits and vegetables to the Middle East. Among its key features, SpiceXpress will offer Priority Based Delivery (PBD), Hour Based Delivery (HBD), Priority Cargo and Personalised Services (PSS) among others," said the airline.  (Twitter image)

SpiceJet plans to have an air cargo fleet with the first four freighters scheduled to be inducted in FY 2019. This unit will be operated as a separate business unit under SpiceJet Limited. SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said that the airline eyes huge untapped market for air cargo services in India. (Twitter image)

The freighter aircraft will be acquired on pure operating leases and haven’t incurred any major CAPEX, while the ground operations will be either self-handled by the existing Spicejet ground infrastructure or shall be outsourced till we develop a certain scale of operations.  (Twitter image)

The current cargo capacity of SpiceJet’s existing fleet is about 500 tonnes per day and with the launch of the dedicated freighter service this capacity would go up to 900 tonnes a day in a phased manner with the addition of four freighters by March 2019.  (Twitter image)

The added capacities through the acquisition of the freighters will enhance the airline’s existing cargo competence to 60 domestic destinations by the end of this year. SpiceJet aims to further ramp up this competence servicing up to 150 destinations across India, Asia and Europe by 2022. (Twitter image)

Fuelled by the e-commerce boom, SpiceJet aims to shore up SpiceXpress’s existing capacity, transforming it into a full scale freighter cargo service. The Air cargo traffic in India is expected to grow by 60% in the next five years.   (PTI image)