Indigo cancellations have not only crippled passenger movements in the last five days but also movement of goods, especially small size packets and couriers to tier-2 and tier-3 cities, where the airline had a strong connections.
For instance, apparels ordered in Jaipur used to arrive the next day in Chennai on board Indigo flight. However, it’s been a week since a consignment was ordered and coming by road to Chennai, said Ramya, who regularly orders clothes from Jaipur.
Air is preferred mainly for time sensitive materials like documents, e-commerce products, perishables and pharma items are badly affected as these are carried in the Belly of Indigo aircraft. Due to the Indigo flight cancellations, these cargo were diverted to road and rail but this delayed the delivery, said sources.
At the Chennai airport, due to the Indigo flight cancellations, domestic cargo handling is most affected. Every day, the airport handles around 150 tonnes.
This is down to nearly 85 tonnes with e-commerce being the most affected, said sources. While cargo to major metros are on board other airlines, including SpiceJet, Akasa Air, Air India and Air India Express, the volume carried by Indigo was huge, they said.
The e-commerce goods, which were being shipped to tier 2 and 3 cities have been impacted, said CK Govil, CMD at the Delhi-based Activair Airfreight India and Immediate Past President of The Air Cargo Agents Association of India.
Due to the cancellations, to tier 2 and 3, the cargo loads were sub-optimal. However, on trunk routes, the disruption is keenly felt by courier operators and resulted in delayed and extended transits, said J Krishnan of S Natesa Iyer Logistics LLP, a Chennai-based freight forwarder.
According to trade sources in Mumbai, Indigo was cheaper than others and was the most preferred choice to send small consignments. However, this was badly affected last week, but slowly things are being normalised.
