India Post to extend express network with Air India deal
India Post is looking to improve its air links with different parts of the Indian subcontinent, in a new agreement with national airline Air India. The postal operator has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government-owned airline to build on its “Logistics Post Air” express parcel distribution service.
The government’s Ministry of Communications & IT said in a statement that the new service would help meet the “huge demand” for easier transit of items to different parts of India, including the Northeast India region.
Plans are to start the service from an initial 15 cities – Ahmedabad, Agartala, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune and Trivendrum.
The service will then be extended to other cities in a phased manner, said the statement from the Ministry.
The agreement is effective February 1, 2012, and will see India Post carrying out delivery of items to Air India’s departure stations, and also collecting it at arrival stations, as well as handling all booking, handling, packing and delivery activities.
Air India will provide transport from one station to another.
The new Logistics Post Air service comes as part of the business-to-business Logistics Post service at India Post, which includes distribution services, FTL and LTL services for parcels and freight consignments, where tariffs are based on weight, dimensions and distance.
Prior to the deal with Air India, India Post had a fleet of three of its own exclusive aircraft to carry air consignments on its Logistics Post service, with Nagpur as its hub.
The service started out with one aircraft linking Kolkata and Guwahati with Imphal and Agartala in the Northeast, before being expanded in 2009 with two additional aircraft linking in Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Chennai and Bangalore.
