Air Transport

Blue Dart Aviation introduced two Boeing 757-200 Freighters last week, enabling it to expand the number of city pairs it serves by more than 50%.

The Indian cargo carrier, which has leased the two aircraft from European Air Transport, will use the twinjets to increase the number of domestic city pairs on which it flies from 39 to 60.

The airline also has five Boeing 737-200Fs and says overall capacity will increase from 166t to 250t per night with the addition of the larger 757s.

Blue Dart Aviation, which is currently the country’s only dedicated freight carrier, operates its services on behalf of Blue Dart Express, which is India’s largest express courier company and is owned by DHL.

The 757s, which are the first of the type in the country, will be used to boost services to and from Hyderabad and connect it with all other cities in its network.

The airline has five main hubs – at Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai – and some are already connected to Hyderabad. Ahmedabad will also become a hub.