One of the well-known events of the aviation and air cargo fraternity, the 9th Edition of the PHDCCI Global Aviation and Air Cargo Summit took place on July 26, 2023, at the PHD House, New Delhi. Themed at “Scaling New Horizons: Trends for Future Sustainable Growth”, the event witnessed some key discussions between the fraternity and the government officials.

The event started with a lightening of the lamp by the Chief Guests: Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; Ms. Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India; along with Vipin Vohra, Chair, PHDCCI Civil Aviation Committee; Michael Jain, Co-Chair, PHDCCI; and Saket Dalmia, President, PHDCCI.

The inaugural was all about the discussion over sustaining the cargo industry as India is becoming a global hub for the cargo industry. Vipin Vohra, Chair-PHDCCI Civil Aviation Committee said, “Four years ago, the cargo industry was treated like a stepchild. The government of India has taken steps to boost the industry’s economic growth and towards transforming the logistics industry. The government policies like Gati Shakti Masterplan, National Logistics Policy have given a big push to the industry”. He stressed upon some of the issues faced by the air cargo industry, such as the high costs of logistics, industry status to logistics and then he highlighted the promotion of air freight stations, and to have warehousing facilities closer to the airports.

While mentioning that in this year’s financial budget capital investment outlay has been increased by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore, the Guest of Honour, Sumita Dawra said this will be the impediment for the logistics industry. Talking about PM’s Gati Shakti Master Plan, she said, “Such policies will boost the infrastructure and connectivity which in turn will reduce the logistics cost.”

Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, focused on the recent developments, announcements made in the aviation sector which has definitely strengthen the air cargo ecosystem.  “We have seen a tremendous growth in terms of new airports coming up and an increase in number of flights. We have already been talking about new airports like Noida and Navi Mumbai in the row to be operational soon. And with such developments, our focus will be on sustainable growth in the aviation sector.”

Moderated by Keku Bomi Gazder, MD and CEO, Aviapro Logistic Services, the panel discussion on “Air Cargo Sector – Sustainability Initiatives for Future” began with an insight on Air India’s plan with cargo operations. Ramesh Mamidala, Head Cargo of the airline, said, “Roadmap is there to bring changes in the commercial structure, to change technology footprints and freighter capacity to be induced both domestic and international.”

Next, all eyes are set on the much awaited Noida International Airport. “Logistics is the gateway for Northern India,” said Nitin Mittal, Head Cargo of the airport, while sharing the development of cargo infrastructure at the airport. The airport is developing multimodal cargo hub in an association with Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited (AISATS). Integrated cargo and logistics park, trucking centre, all is this in the process to create a cargo ecosystem at the airport.

Cyrus Katgara, Partner, Jeena & Company talked about Green logistics, to go fully digital; while Satish Lakkaraju, Senior VP, WIZ Logtec Solutions focussed on Pharma shipments with the usage of technology like IoT for the effective end to end supply chain.

Yashpal Sharma, MD, Skyways Group threw light on the policies of the government – National Logistics Policy, Gati Shakti, “which can fast track the logistics infrastructure processes and reduce the logistics cost and help India to achieve the aim of being in top 25 countries in the logistics index.”

Kanwarjeet singh Wadhwa, Chairman, Grace Group, being an industry veteran for more than five decades, suggested changes for the industry. Parvinder Singh, MD, Hans Infomatic Pvt Ltd, talked about technology in the air cargo sector and stressed on using AI (artificial intelligence).

Prithviraj Chug, CEO, Group Concorde talked about role of GSSA. “The game is changing which is a volume game. It should be working with many airlines not just one or two. We have organic growth structure in place and our formula is simple – multiple airlines, multiple markets.”

The second panel discussion was a shift to passenger side from cargo and focused on aviation industry’s sustainable growth blueprint. Moderated by Sanjiv Edward, CEO, Caro and Logistics, GMRA Airports, the speakers on the panel were: Mohammad Sarhan, VP– India & Nepal , Emirates, India; Rakesh Raicar , Regional Manager – South Asia , Mid-East & Africa (SAMEA) , Cathay Pacific ; Salil Nath, General Manager – Indian Subcontinent , Global Sales, Etihad  Airways, India; Satyaki Raghunath , Chief Strategy & Development Officer , BLR Airport – BIAL; Kamal Hingorani , Chief Customer Officer – SpiceJet & Chief Officer- SpiceXpress; and Jyoti Mayal , President – TAAI –Travel agents association of India.

The last but not the least, the third panel discussion was the most exciting, which focused on “new business profit models and sustainable initiatives in the allied aviation industry,” moderated by Amber Dubey, senior advisor at Mckinsey & Co. and former joint secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India.

The speakers in the panel were: Ashutosh Sharma, General Manager, International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA); Pulak Sen, Secretary General, MRO Association of India, C.S Sharma, Joint Director & Head PMU, QCI; Balasubramaniam P. – Founder and CEO, ACCIS; Abhinav Jain, Co-Founder & CEO, Almond AI; Rajan Sehgal, Co-Chair, PFDCCI Tourism Committee.