IndiGo CarGo has begun operating freighter flights between Kolkata in India and Ezhou in China as it continues to expand its network.
The freighter flights between Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU) and Ezhou Huahu Airport (EHU) in central China’s Hubei Province will operate three times a week, said Mark Sutch, chief commercial officer cargo.
"A great pleasure to officiate at the opening of IndiGo CarGo’s latest phase of its international freighter strategy," stated Sutch in a LinkedIn post last week. "This week we opened a new 3 times weekly freighter service between Kolkata in India and Ezhou in China’s Hubei Province."
He added: "For our customers the airport’s central China location offer very extensive reach via road feed service to multiple China metros."
Air Cargo News understands from IndiGo CarGo's published network on its website that this is the airline's first freighter route to China, although IndiGo does operates two passenger flights between New Delhi and Guangzhou each day
Sutch did not specify what aircraft is being used, but data from Planespotters shows that IndiGo currently has three leased Airbus A321 passenger to freighter (P2F) aircraft in its fleet.
The first was delivered in October 2022, the second in December 2022 and the third in October 2023.
IndiGo CarGo commenced operations with its first A321P2F between Delhi and Mumbai at the end of 2022.
IndiGo has leased the aircraft from funds serviced by Castlelake Aviation Holdings (Ireland) Limited.
The A321P2F supports a payload of up to 27 tonnes. The aircraft are being converted through a programme involving ST Engineering and Airbus with their joint venture, Elbe FlugzeugWerke (EFW).
Last month, IndiGo Cargo announced an interline agreement with Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP) that will see IndiGo gain access to the wider global network of the Paris-headquartered group and AFKLMP with greater access to the Indian market.
