India Post acquires aircraft on lease to serve NE

New Delhi, Aug 23 (UNI) To enhance the India Post services to the poorly connected North Eastern states, the Department of Posts (DoP) today said it has acquired an aircraft on lease from the Indian Airlines for its maiden air freighter service and plans to induct atleast one more similar aircraft by this fiscal end.

The freighter, converted Boeing 737-200 aircraft, will be launched jointly by Communication Minister A Raja and Aviation Minister Praful Patel on August 29 at Guwahati.

''Serving a guaranteed and reliable transportation to the North Eastern region, the freighter will carry a payload of 14 tonnes daily between Kolkata and Guwahati,'' Secretary to the Department of Posts I M G Khan told reporters here.

The aircraft, leased from Indian Airlines (now a part of Air India) for one year, will carry mail, parcel and logistics on Kolkata-Guwahati-Imphal-Agartala-Kolkata route on a regular basis.

He said seeing the huge demand and growing business, India Post will acquire one more freighter by the end of this financial year.

''This is the beginning and we look forward to strengthen our growing relationships with the Indian Airlines,'' he said.

The Secretary said this service will pick up very fast and will soon reach its full capacity.

Besides, the freighter for North East, the DoP also proposed to induct more aircrafts during the Eleventh Five Year Plan to cover rest of the country.

''We plan to connect all the metro cities by this air freighter service by the end of this financial year,'' Department of Posts General Manager (Business Development and Marketing Directorate) John Samuel told UNI.

''Initially, there may be some loss, but this is not a problem.

The Government gives subsidy to the North Eastern region in order to provide connectivity. This is one effort towards that direction,'' Mr Khan said.

''There is a huge potential in the logistics sector in India, as there is a handful of aircrafts to serve the huge population of the country,'' Dr V Trivedi, CMD, Indian Airlines, said.

The DoP had paid Rs 12 crore to the Indian Airlines for refitting in March this year, he added.

UNI