Chennai pitches in with 27 per cent of Cathay’s India cargo revenue

Since flights were launched in 2008, more than 6,00,000 passengers have travelled from Chennai and approximately 39,000 tonnes of cargo have been transported. The airline began passenger flights with four weekly flights in 2008 operating an Airbus 330-300 aircraft. 

In 2010, to meet the increasing demand from both business and leisure travellers, the airline expanded to daily operations. Rajesh Menon, Regional Sales and Marketing Manager – South Asia, Cathay Pacific says, “Chennai continues to hold tremendous opportunity with the growing economic developments in the state. We began with four weekly flights. In a few years, we expanded to daily flights due to the great potential Chennai offered. Our flights have catered to a wide segment of passengers that include corporate travellers, holiday makers, VFR traffic and students, travelling to popular destinations like Hong Kong, San Francisco, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney to name a few.” 

On the cargo front, Cathay Pacific carries cargo in the belly of its passenger aircraft. Anand Yedery, Cathay Pacific’s Regional Cargo Manager – South Asia, ME and Africa, says, “It’s important to have the right balance between utilising belly capacity on our passenger aircraft combined with the main deck capacity on our Boeing 747 freighters.  

The belly capacity on our passenger flights from Chennai enables us to carry between 20 and 30 tonnes of cargo per flight. This includes machinery spares, electronics, garments, perishables and courier. Chennai is an important market for us for exports and imports and contributes to around 27% of the India cargo revenue.”