PRESS RELEASE

On behalf of Air Cargo Forum India, Governing Board, we take this opportunity to express our hearty thanks for attending the ACFI Annual Event on the theme of “Changing Consumption Patterns – Transforming Supply Chains” on 24th February 2021.  Click here to view ACFI Concept Paper.     

The virtual event was innovatively conceived and viewed more than 4000 viewers by the senior government/ policymaker and key industry leaders including shippers globally. The event was aimed to benefit the air cargo industry in India and the deliberations of this event would serve the industry well and enhance the experience of our drive to make the air cargo industry a reliable and efficient enabler that would ensure the success of this seminar on Changing Consumption Patterns – Transforming Supply Chains globally. We have consolidated the summary on the proceedings of the Event 2021 and the same is reproduced below.

Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI)

ACFI has representation from the stakeholders of the entire air cargo logistics supply chain industry and works for the growth and development of the air cargo logistics industry within the progressive liberalized policies of the government for the rapid and sustainable growth of Indian economy. Today, the air cargo industry in India is one of the industries that are progressing with leaps and bounds and time is not far when it will be counted among one of the flourishing industries of the world. The Air Cargo Logistics Industry facilitates the growth of the Indian economy and a vital contributor to the progress of the nation. Therefore, there is a need to boost this sector, overcome its prevailing challenges and explore the opportunities.

 

Contribution of Air Cargo Logistics Industry during Covid-19 Pandemic 

The whole world knows that during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, how the air cargo logistics industry has played a very significant role by maintaining a continuous supply of medical equipment, PPTs, sanitation materials, masks as well as the essential food supplies to the common masses in India and abroad. The era of Coronavirus has brought to the world a forced transformation in the consumer behavior in a real quick time which has made the manufacturing the industry transforms its ecosystem. People are living differently, buying differently, and in many ways, thinking differently. 

ACFI Annual Event 2021 

ACFI Board Members are extremely happy that on the occasion of completing eight (8) successful years of service to the Indian air cargo logistics industry and to the nation had conducted a virtual conference on the theme of “Changing Consumption Patterns – Transforming Supply Chains” for the benefit of the entire air cargo logistics supply chain industry on 24thFeb’2021. We believe that this conference has brought to the fore an International perspective and participation from Global Business Leaders who have discussed new trends and smart solutions to handle the Logistics supply chain under the new normal for better synergies which will build a resilient and robust Logistics Supply chain in the country, to support our vision of building an “Atmanirbhar Bharat.

 We are also confident that all the stake holders of the entire air cargo supply chain have benefited from this event and the deliberations of this event have served the industry well. ACFI would like to share the important deliberations and takeaway points of this conference with you for your information.

The People Behind the Success of ACFI Annual Event – Following ACFI Members played important role in the planning, organizing, and successful proceedings of the event.

1. Mr. Arvind Aggarwal the Chairman of ACFI Task Pillar, Event Management, and his team members played a very important role in planning & organizing ACFI Annual Event-2021 with the members of his team deserve congratulations and lots of thanks. In the inaugural session, he introduced all the important members i.e., Mr. Cyrus Katgara, President ACFI, Mr. Yashpal Sharma, Vice President, ACFI, Mr. Sanjiv Edward, Honorary Secretary, ACFI and his important members of Task Pillar, Event Management.
2. Mr. Yashpal Sharma, Vice President ACFI & Patron ACFI Task Pillar on Event Management for his support to Event Management Team. He proposed the vote of thanks to the dignitaries of the Government Session.
3. Mr. Cyrus Katgara President ACFI gave his welcome address in the Government Session.
4. Mr. Sanjiv Edward, Hon. Secretary ACFI gave an introductory address in the Inaugural Session. 
5. Mr. Avinash Razdan, Hon. Treasurer ACFI gave the vote of thanks at the concluding session of the event. 
6. Ms. Parul Kulshreshtha Head-GMR Aviation Academy as the event host.
7. The ACFI Secretariat, IT Partner- sGate Tech Solutions and Skyways Support Team.

Opening Remark – Mr. Arvind Aggarwal along with his core team, thanked and welcomed all the participants for attending the virtual ACFI Annual Event 2021 from various cities of the country and abroad. Mr. Arvind in his opening remarks on the theme of this virtual event and about the reason for choosing the theme as it was apt due to the aftereffect of the COVID pandemic. Mr. Cyrus Katgara President ACFI officially declared the event open.

The proceedings of the event was taken over by Ms. Parul Kulshreshtha, Head – GMR Aviation Academy and performed her event hosting activities successfully thereafter. 

Introductory Address was given by Mr. Sanjiv Edward, Chief Commercial Officer, Delhi International Airport and Honorary Secretary, ACFI while welcoming the guests from the entire global air cargo logistics industry touched upon many areas of the industry out of which following were the few important ones; –

• General introduction of ACFI and its achievements during the last eight (8) years of its journey in the service of the air cargo logistics industry and the nation. 
• The positive changes brought by the pandemic in the human behavior from transactional type of relation to close human relations and coming out more strongly to deal with the crisis. In our area of activities, ACFI has tried to bring all the stakeholders of the air cargo logistics industry closer to come out of the situations in front of us.
• In order to improve the level of ease of doing business particularly in the processing of EXIM Cargo at the gateway airports of the country ACFI has established five Taskforce Pillars (Policy Advocacy, Event Management, Process Simplification, Knowledge & Research and Skill Development) headed by its most experienced members of different streams of business.
• Under the supervision of its Skill Development Task Pillar, ACFI has conducted more than 70 basic and advanced training courses (BCAP & AACTP) and trained more than 3150 employees of ACFI Members from the airports across the country, out of which three training courses were conducted online virtual during COVID period
• It was only the air cargo logistics sector out of the other sector of aviation industry stakeholders, which has recovered its business very fast (up to 91% till Dec’2020) in compared to pre COVID-19 period.
• Even during a pandemic, the air cargo load factor has grown more than 7% and the recovery rate of the air cargo industry has shown 91% compared to the pre-COVID era.
• Finally, ACFI through this event would like to stress upon some of these food for thoughts for the industry stakeholders i.e., planning way ahead for reshaping the marketing plan, creating more elastic digital workplace, respond to the changing world around us, approaching our business plan along with the industry stakeholders, redefine our relationship with our customers around us, Reconsider products what will work & what will not and to renew for the new products in a different way. 

The Key Note Address was delivered by Dr. Adil Malia, CEO & Partner, The Firm. His words of wisdom were around the following key suggestions to industry; –

• Continue researching to change business models
• Don’t change immediately but wait & watch carefully first
• Internal strategy to be strengthened.
• Industry to give focus on;-

• Agility
• Drive to achieve
• Innovate and
• Learning of systems

• Pay attention to consumer need- seeking speed.
• Customer experience comes from every touch point of the organization.
• Changes in the consumption pattern.
• Profile of decision makers changing from old to young ones.
• Consumer going directly to supplier and not to the middleman.
• Supply chain industry to pay attention; –

• Organization strength, flexibility and agile 
• Talent in the organization
• Alignment of business processes 
• Knowhow of Latest technology i.e., AI, Block Chain, Robotics, etc. and its use.
• Right DATA for decision making. 
• Data base business analyses.

Mr. Adil started his deliberation with “TAJURBA KITNA BHI HO HER TAJURBA NAYA HI HOGA” …. and ended with “HASIL HONGE WO SAB MUKAAM TOO CHINGARI BANKE TO DEKH”

GOVERNMENT SESSION

Mr. Arvind Aggarwal Chairman ACFI Taskforce Pillar on Event Management welcomed the guest of honor Ms. Vandana Aggarwal Sr. Economic Advisor, Mo CA and introduced her to the guests & audience across the world attending the virtual ACFI Annual Event. 

Address by Guest of Honor

The main highlighting points of the address of Ms. Vandana Aggarwal was as under

• Cargo has been one of the favourite subjects of her department in the ministry.
• National Air Cargo Policy Outline- One of the unique features were the accomplishments of action plans during COVID period. The contribution of ACFI & other associations was immense. 
• Promoted Open Sky Policy- for Imbedding Indian trade system & the requirement of creating transshipment facilities and operation of dedicated freighters.
• Creation of Infrastructure facilities at the airports of the country gone more than 3 times of actual cargo volume moving from and to India.
• Regional Tier II & III cities are being addressed by AAICLAS with futuristic plans ahead.
• Govt. is always ready to address the challenges of the air cargo industry.
• Cargo IT platform infrastructure facilities have served remarkably under COVID period and with the help of digital processing the industry started with 17% operation in Mar’2020 and reached up to 94% volume operation in Dec’2020 compares to pre COVID period.
• The domestic cargo had better the story during COVID with over 97% volume of agro products movement domestically and during the same pandemic period Government operationalized new domestic cargo terminals at Surat, Indore, Bhopal airports. 
• Government also incentivized domestic movement of agro products from Himalayan regions to big cities.
• Dedicated freighters like Spy Jet came up to reach to remote places.
• Vaccine movement in India has been most successful with complete seamlessly within the shortest time period as per the standards specified by the manufacturers without a single discrepancy. Freight Industry has supported greatly at the 29 disseminating points.
• Vaccine Maitry Program of GOI was introduced successfully to supply Vaccine shipments to our neighboring countries during the period of constraints.
• The need to creation of transshipment hubs by the integrators for harnessing the needs of E-Commerce movement with speed.
• On the IT front, GOI introduced paperless, faceless assessments, etc. for processing digitally. Digital freight corridors & physical freight corridors have been planned. The target is to establish IT-driven global platform to become (India) an IT-driven aviation leadership.
• Government has a concern about the cargo industry not utilizing the IT booking system designed by the Indian developers for booking air cargo, space booking, and tracking & tracing online by the users. Once again industry may like to ponder upon this issue.
• Created land customs points at the borders with our neighboring countries for smooth movement of international cargo across the land borders. 
• Could not provide budgetary support to aviation fraternity /industry to mitigate the losses incurred due to COVID pandemic because of the financial constraints of the government. 

Welcome Address by President ACFI 

Mr. Cyrus Katgara the President ACFI welcomed Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri the Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Civil Aviation, for sparing his valuable time out of his busy schedule and the air cargo logistics industry is obliged for his gracious presence as the Chief Guest on the ACFI Annual Event.

He also welcomed Ms. Vandana Aggarwal, Sr. Economic Advisor – MoCA as the Guest of Honor and all the dignitaries and guests on this virtual ACFI Annual Event, on the theme, “Changing Consumption Patterns – Transforming Supply Chains”. Mr. Cyrus also thanked all the valuable speakers from various parts of the country and overseas for their participation. The main highlights of Mr. Cyrus’s welcome address had been the flowing for the attention of the Chief Guest, the guest of honor, and the members of the industry; –

1. 35% of international trade (by value) is transported by air, which is the importance of air cargo to the country. 
2. The overall logistics cost in India is 14%, however, the good news is that the logistics cost by air is 1 to 8% of the CIF value. Therefore, in relative terms, Air cargo is the cheaper mode of transportation. 
3. Air cargo provides speed to market, zero inventory/warehousing cost, low financing cost, and zero loss of sale. A good example is Apple on the high end and Zara on lower-end both using Air Cargo to succeed. Both are immensely successful companies.
4. Going paperless is ACFI’s favorite subject. COVID pandemic restrictions have fast-tracked the digital process overnight. What we couldn’t achieve in the last 20 years, we achieved in the last few months.
5. Customs have introduced contactless and paperless assessment process is a welcome step to some extent but still, on-ground reality hard copies of paper documents are being insisted during processing. However, the industry is confident that with high-level intervention this hurdle will go away soon by changing the existing mindset.
6. 99% of Custom brokers are doing their bonafide job and coming out clean. However, there may be a fraction of agencies who may not be compliant and this happens in every industry. ACFI’s plea to Customs is to look at Custom broker as your partner as the future trend is a collaboration which is much more important than accusations.
7. At the end Mr. Cyrus Katgara thanked MOCA, BCAS, Customs, Terminal operators, Airlines, Custom brokers and finally, freight forwarders who work tirelessly to tender cargo ready for carriage and for keeping the Indian skies one of the safest in the world. Thank you to the whole air cargo industry for saving the world during COVID period.

Address by the Chief Guest;  

The Chief Guest Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Civil Aviation, addressing to ACFI members & distinguished participants appreciated ACFI for choosing the apt and the relevant theme of ACFI Annual Event-2021. Following some of the important issues were among the highlights of Mr. Puri’s address to the members enthusiastically awaiting listen to the address of the Chief Guest. 

• From 25th Mar’2020 the entire country faced Total lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing the shutdown of country’s economic activities witnessing 23.9% contraction in the Indian economy during the initial period of this crisis.
• All the sectors of economic activities have been affected seriously including the Civil Aviation sector but the air cargo logistics segment of the Indian Aviation sector has been resilient. 
• A degree of optimism has come up from IMF that in 2021-22 Indian economy will bounce back with 11% growth.
• Lifeline Udaan operation of MoCA has normalized the transportation of essential goods.
• Some of the disruptive effect of the COVID pandemic is still visible but the Air Cargo Logistics Industry will bounce back soon to what it was in the pre-COVID period and much more.
• During the initial period of the pandemic Ministry of Civil Aviation with the day-night hard work of Ministry’s senior officials including Ms Vandana Aggarwal, the government was able to transport by air, 1500 to 1900 MT of medical supplies
• Domestic PAX flights will reach its full 100% operation by Mar’2021
• It has been established by the committee of experts that the Domestic air transportation in India is the safest mode of transportation with some precaution.
• We are determined to increase cargo capacity & operation by Indian carriers.
• To increase cargo capacity in India, the government encourages the operation of nonscheduled flights too.
• In Jan’21, India has reached 94% of cargo volume handled during the pre-COVID era and domestic cargo the volume of some of the Indian Airports have reached growth beyond imagination like Srinagar Airport at 300%, Surat Airport at 200%, Amritsar Airport at 80%, and Varanasi airport achieved more than 96% of cargo volume handled in pre COVID period.
• The world Community has appreciated India’s contribution to the supply of COVID vaccine to other world countries. In India, 1.20 Crore people have already got the vaccines. 
• Government gives full assurance to all the members of the air cargo logistics industry bout the support of the government for the growth of country’s economy and such type of events organized by ACFI will help to our growth story.
• Overall airport privatization is a big message for all of us. 6 airports have been recently privatized and more 6 Airports are on the way of privatization soon in the near future. Major Airports like IGIA & Mumbai were privatized in 2006 have reached phenomenal growth to reach 17 million PAX and generated a revenue of Rs. 29000 Crore by these two airports DEL & BOM from Cargo activities privatized with the phenomenal growth of cargo after privatization are being used to develop new airports of the country.
• The Hon’ble Minister also endorses the viewpoint of ACFI President that the logistics cost in air cargo the sector is bare minimum as mentioned in his welcome address.

Vote of Thanks

Mr. Yashpal Sharma, Vice President, ACFI proposed the vote of thanks to Mr. Harpreet Singh Puri the Chief Guest and Ms. Vandana Aggarwal the Guest of Honor of the ACFI Event along with the guests present who were eagerly listening to the words of wisdom from these dignitaries. He said that it’s heartening to know from Mr. Puri’s inspiring words about the future growth in the aviation sector particularly in the air cargo and his full assurance to this industry. Mr. Puri’s words of wisdom and assurances have been heard by the whole Indian air cargo industry stakeholders and also by the global industry through this virtual event.

Business Session – 1: Changing Trends in e-Commerce Value Chain 

This session was moderated by Ms. Tulsi Nowlakha Mirchandaney, Managing Director, Blue Dart Aviation and Board Member of ACFI. Following were the Panelist of Speakers of 1^st Business Session; –

1. Mr. Tushar Jani, Chairman, Cargo Service Center India Pvt. Ltd.
2. Mr. Sanjiv Gupta, CEO (Cargo), SpiceJet Ltd
3. Mr. Ajith Pai, COO, Delhivery
4. Mr. Bhushan Patil, Founder, Multiply Ventures
5. Mr. Nath Parameshwaran, Head Regulatory Affairs India, PayPal INC

Ms. Tulsi Nowlakha Mirchandaney before she started her moderation task has given an introductory input on the topic of the debate of this session said that during the pandemic year 2020 generally it was thought that technology can be a friend and virtual meetings could be a business savior and e-commerce can no longer be an indulgence but necessity. She highlighted the Mackenzie report stating that 3/4 of the people involved in the business were using digital transaction and 55% of the total e-commerce business happening from tier 2 cities only. The questions are these changes mere aberrations or will sustain forever and then what are the infrastructure facilities would be required to be developed. 

The main highlight of the deliberations came up from the panelist speakers on the theme of above Business Session was as under; –

Changing Trends

• Expansion to Tier II/ Tier III cities and the NE.
• Democratization of e-Commerce, the evolution of direct channels.
• MSMEs reach, cross border demand.
• Move from surface to air during the pandemic. Globally, the surface is widely used but the Air Cargo segment of the pie is projected to grow concurrently. 
• Shift from the belly hold air capacity to main deck/ freighters. 
• Digital channels and digitalization integral to the business
• Sustainability contribution – Hyper local delivery supporting local communities and employment generation, silver tech (aging) audience with high spend potential and greater environment consciousness.  

Opportunities

• Move from cell phones to the consumer economy and catering to the bottom half of the pyramid would unleash explosive growth.
• Expansion to Tier II, Tier III cities, and the NE.
• Exposure of MSMEs to a global/cross-border branded market, direct channels.
• Small freighter connectivity to regional airports.
• Service enhancement and customization.
• Free Trade Zones.
• Creation of a Transshipment hub.
• Actions to stay ahead of the curve and catch the tide
• Unified, common digital platform. (Mr. Bhushan Patil)
• Cybersecurity, enabling trust, protecting privacy, reducing fraud. (Mr. Nath Parameshwaran)
• Airport Cargo Infrastructure in Tier II/ Tier III cities. (Mr. Sanjiv Gupta)
• Attracting human capital and skills to adequately respond to and innovate in an increasingly complex digital environment. (Mr. Ajith Pai) 
• Quantify contribution of the air cargo segment to sustainability. (UN target of zero carbon emission by 2050).
• New Technology (AI, Block Chain, Robotics, etc.) will redefine e-Commerce. E-Commerce through AIR (A- Agility, I- Innovation and R- Resilience) will reach its new height and would be known as Sunshine Industry. (Mr. Tushar Jani) 

Business Session – 2: Future Trend in Fashion & Retail – 2021 & Beyond

This session was moderated by Mr. Yashpal Sharma, Managing Director, Skyways Air Services and Vice President ACFI with a diverse list of panelists across the world. Following were the Panelist of Speakers of Business Session 2;

1. Ms. Kirsten de Bruin, Senior Vice President, Cargo Sales and Network Planning, Qatar Airways
2. Mr. Sameer Khatri, Managing Director, DSV Air & Sea Pvt Ltd
3. Mr. Max Philipp Conrady, Senior Vice President (Cargo), Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
4. Dr. Anil Chinnabhandar, Senior Vice President, Landmark Group
5. Mr. Prediman K. Koul, Executive Director and Board Member, Jeena & Company 

Mr. Yashpal Sharma in his introductory remarks stated that the apparel & Fashion industry of the world is worth $ 2.2 Trillion and one of the highest employment generators. This industry has not only created wealth but also created economic development in many countries. The apparel industry of the 21^st century has been built on a complex yet very efficient supply chain industry. Most apparel industry stakeholders have faced & facing catastrophic impacts on their business demand during the COVID period and the year 2020 ultimately brought significant challenges to this industry. However, the online mode of business adopted by the users suddenly became a savior to this industry to some extent. 

The main highlights of the deliberations came up from the panelist speakers on the topic of this Business session was as under;

Future Trends

• COVID Pandemic has caused a transformation in the future demand trend from fashion to daily utility items
• Market trends changing from big markets to small cities.
• Reliability in Retail.
• Subsidy on some commodities affects the pricing.
• Drop-in Garment/textile products and a huge rise in pharmaceutical products.
• Health & Safety taking attention not fashion.
• Paperless processing taking the attention of stakeholders including Customs.
• Distribution centers near airports
• Rural manufacturers/MSMEs entering the market to promote B to C, business 
• Consumption growth in EU & USA    
• Need of consolidation of situation
• Demand may come after the pandemic effect getting diluted.
• Premium services will go to casual wearing and sports goods
• Opening of online Omni channels to the customers
• Changing trend of Market stores to the e-commerce supply chain. 

Solution for maintaining the growth   

• We have to create a Technology created inventory to meet the demand and capacity created by airlines
• Airline to maintain transportation of goods due to government commitment & consumer demands. (Ms. Kirsten de Bruin)
• More Combi- Aircraft may be needed to cope with the demand of freight & the shortage of passenger load. (Ms. Kirsten de Bruin)   
• Digital solutions to be promoted for boosting the processing time much faster (Mr. Pradiman Kaul)
• Shift in manufacturing from China to Bangladesh, Vietnam & Indonesia will come to India only India improving ease of doing business steps vigorously. (Shamir Khatri)
• E-Commerce cargo will stay and flights with E-Commerce will increase in comparison to normal cargo (Ms. Kirsten de Bruin)
• Future infrastructure for distribution centers near airport cargo terminals needs to be developed. (Dr. Anil Chinnabhandar)
• The delivery speed will remain one of the main demands for premium products hence logistics should play a bigger role.
• Omni Channel strategy will work dominantly (Dr. Anil Chinnabhandar & Mr. Prediman Kaul)
• Demand will come from Europe for India & South Asian countries. (Mr. Max Philipp Conrady) 

Business Session – 3: Electronics Industry’s Evolving Supply Chain

This session was moderated by Mr. Glyn Hughes, Director General, TIACA having an unparalleled track record over the last many years, driving change in the air cargo industry and promoting its value to governments, partners across its value chain. The diverse list of the panelist of speakers from across the world was as under;

1. Mr. Peter Penseel, Chief Operating Officer Airfreight, CEVA Logistics
2. Dr. Pramod Sant, Vice President – Head of Import/ Export and Customs, Siemens Ltd
3. Mr. J. Florian Pfaff, Vice President Asia Pacific, Lufthansa Cargo AG
4. Mr. Raveen Pinto, Vice President – Aviation Business, Bangalore International Airport Limited
5. Mr. George John, Supply Chain Operations, CISCO 

The introductory remarks of Mr. Glyn Hughes the Moderator of this session gave focus on the following scenario explaining the significant role the electronics industry playing and evolving the supply chain industry by reaching out to the last consumer efficiently.

• Electronic Industry is 40% of the total value of the entire international air cargo trade which means annually $2.4 Trillion electronics is moving across the world. A huge contribution to the world economy as per Air Transport Group study.
• Out of the total air freight moving from China 40% comprises between China & US and 29% out of this only comprises electronics components/ electronic goods.
• India has registered 180% growth in electronic production during 2014-2020 which is a significant growth area of the country’s economy. India has become 2^nd largest producing country in the world producing electronic handsets. The global electronic portable/ handset industry has become worth $700 billion Industry this year.
• The Global Electronics Industry components growth has registered 7% this year (2020) in spite of the COVID pandemic.

With the above inputs and high-value electronic goods moving across various parts of the world with the applications of Digital platforms by the industry stakeholders, the air cargo logistics supply chain industry should play a significant role as most of these high-value electronics goods moves only by air. The inputs came forward from the speakers on the various queries raised by the moderator is given broadly as under; 

Industry Outlook 

1. Sustainability in Business could be brought through- strong processes to control the internal programs. Internal Control Process (ICP) through R & D. Challenges in logistics operation without any incentive and financial support could be promoted.

Industry should participate in the AEO Program of the government and get recognition. A strong standard should be established to attract Global Business stakeholders.

Focus should be given on digital applications and Collaborative approach connecting with Airport Cargo Community System of BIAL at Bangalore Airport, what Siemen Ltd obtaining benefits of online updated information of its shipments at the airport and helped them generate more than 45,000 shipments in a day and maintaining an average clearance time of 1.2 days.

2. Transportation of Counterfeited batteries by air – Rules, and standards for handling DG Cargo should be adhered to by all stakeholders. More employees should be qualified for handling DG Cargo.

3. Blended supply chain Strategy – Evolution of innovative infrastructure needed for blended supply chain strategy and for supply chain security. (Dr. Pramod Sant)

4. Customers looking for reliability & full visibility of end-to-end customers product-wise. Finding ways to keep their final customer happy.

Provide special handling to important products needed to maintain quality of services.

Customers get confident when they get services with speed. TD Flash product of Lufthansa airline was designed to meet the expectations of its customers which has been extended now to express also. 

5. PAX Freighters operation – was not easy to do but after bringing every task player on a table LH responded positive on the need basis and succeeded in doing so. Competitors also have done that but will not sustainable for a longer time as the Unit cost for PAX Freighter fling operation becomes much higher. 

6. Transportation of Counterfeited batteries by air – All the stakeholders must join together including govt. to arrest losses of human lives & property and it should be given top priority. Rules and standards to be adhered by all and IATA, FIATA should come forward along with the national governments. LH imposes an embargo observing zero tolerance, awareness campaigning should be on.

7. Implementation of Digitization – The implementation of E – AWB and E- Manifestation is slow but progressing fast and steadily. Lufthansa has targeted 80-90% E-Booking by 2020-21. (Mr. J. Florian Pfaff)

8. Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley & IT hub of India. The introduction of digitization in the air cargo logistics industry during the last 12 months of the pandemic has done what we have not done in the last 10 years. Electronic companies like Infosys, Wipro, seamen’s, Haw let Packard, etc. flourishing around Bangalore, govt also promoting these companies.  BIAL has shown positive in capacity building and more Freighters have been operated. The mainstream revenue generator has been from cargo operation.

9. Overall positive impact on the business of electronic components in air transportation at Bangalore apt. Trade barriers cause impediments on air cargo.

BIAL in the midst of spending huge on infrastructure facility to achieve cargo volume capacity of 5 Million MT in next 5 years.

10. The Center of excellence has been DIGI YATRA using Biometric has been started and using extensively. A public Bonded warehousing facility at the airport and Truck management facility has been planned. (Mr. Raveen Pinto,)

11. Cost, quality & delivery are the main component around sustainability, good governance, the capability of human resources, adhering to government regulation, digital acceptance & go green principles. 2018-19 saw the global economy upward trend and 2020 for local for vocal.  

12. Twinning concept of manufacturing from different companies is going to stay and agility has come from digitization.

13. Sustainability with more ethical way against Child labor, capability in terms of human resources & component of supply chain & Customs clearance, trade barriers are affecting the trade & industry. 

14. Status of Digital implementation – Electronics component & digital innovations have brought successes to companies. There are many components of SISCO giving bandwidth to people working from home also. Business in a secure way is very important. DATA security is very important. SISCO produces security products. (Mr. George John) 

The above deliberations were held in the right environment, finding great partners, visibility, customer-centric, stressing digital innovation and finally the electronic industry evolving supply chain.

The session was enjoyable, informative, and good learning. 

A vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Avinash Razdan, Chief Executive Officer, Delhi Cargo Service Center Pvt. Ltd. and Honorary Treasurer, ACFI at the final stage of the event, thanking all the dignitaries from the government, trade, delegates, speakers, members of the ACFI, valuable sponsors, the organizing team members of this event, IT partner sGate, representatives of various cargo news media, moderators of the sessions, the event host, the ACFI Secretariat, the thousands of  viewers across the world and finally the ACFI Board members under the leadership of President ACFI Mr. Cyrus Katgara under whose able leadership this event was successfully completed.

In between the sessions, Event Video, Session Video, ACFI Video, Promotional Videos were played by the IT Team and the Advertisements of the Sponsors were displayed prominently.