Lufthansa Cargo joins Navi Mumbai as airlines talk of airport challenges

Lufthansa Cargo has joined the growing number of airlines that have officially started operations at Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), even as talk of operational challenges at the new hub have emerged.

The cargo arm of Lufthansa said in a LinkedIn post on 14 October that it had moved its freighter operations to NMIA as Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) focuses on expansion work to increase capacity and efficiency.

“Our first Boeing 777F freighter has successfully arrived at Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMI) on Monday, marking the start of our dedicated freighter operations at the region’s newest airport,” said Lufthansa Cargo.

The business continues to handle belly capacity at CSMIA, as passenger flights are routed through the airport.

“India is one of the strategically important growth markets for Lufthansa Cargo. By connecting Navi Mumbai, we are ensuring that our customers will continue to benefit from a high-performance infrastructure, reliable capacity, and seamless integration into our global network,” commented Anand Kulkarni, head of global markets.

CSMIA announced in January that it planned to suspend freighter operations for 10 months in order to carry out upgrades to cargo infrastructure.

Freighter operators were asked to temporarily move their flights from CSMIA to NMIA while the work is carried out. This is expected to take 10 months and was due to start in August.

NMIA opened its doors back in December, but freighter operations did not get underway until 1 August, when an IndiGo freighter took off from the airport.

Silk Way West, Cathay Cargo, Hong Kong Air Cargo have all confirmed the shift of their freighter operations to the new airport.

However, despite the growing number of freighter operations, some carriers have reported major challenges.

Challenge Group recently suspended its freighter flights to NMIA. The carrier stated that the current operational setup “does not yet enable us to deliver our cargo services with the level of reliability and certainty we require”.

“While the circumstances leading to this situation are outside our control, the decision to suspend our service is a deliberate one,” it added.

Emirates has also reportedly expressed concerns. The Telegraph India reported that Emirates has said NMIA is “not ready” for international operations, including cargo warehousing operations, and it planned to retain operations at CSMIA.