,_Air-India_Cargo_JP7301160.jpg){kind=link}
The story
Air India Cargo was set up in 1932, and started its freighter operations with a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, giving Air India the distinction of being the first Asian airline to operate freighters.
Between the 1980s and 1990s it operated Boeing 747 and Douglas DC-8 freighter aircraft on various international routes through other companies.
In 2006 the airline relaunched freighter services following the merger of Indian Airlines and its domestic subsidiary Alliance Air with Air India; which led to the acquisition of a single Boeing 737-200C aircraft from Alliance's fleet, plus ten additional passenger versions of the aircraft, of which five were converted to freighters. One of these was also painted in Indian Airlines' old livery for a brief period after conversion. All six aircraft were flying on Air India Cargo domestic routes.
Air India also converted four of its Airbus A310s. These were deployed on the Dammam-Frankfurt route. After ending international operations two were leased out to new cargo startup Aryan Cargo Express, while a third was sold to an African company.
In November 2007, Air India partnered with GATI for a dedicated freighter service using the 737s.
In July 2024, Air India was reported to be "consolidating its cargo operations" and plans to start a separate entity or a subsidiary like it to handle cargo operations with dedicated freighters. There has been a 30% increase in the cargo revenues of the Air India Group in FY22-24. The cargo volume is expected to increase to 2.5 million tonnes by 2027. Air India is also developing a "mother software" to handle cargo data and revenue management. The airline is streamlining its cargo operations for optimisation of cargo handling. The airline has initiated a programme to "onboard, engage and expand with regional, national and global customers".
From Wikipedia’s article on Air India Cargo, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3