Mumbai Airport: Air Cargo Movement Sees 30 Per Cent Jump In FY22

With the global supply chain operations steadily gaining momentum in the past couple of years, Mumbai airport's air cargo has increased about 30 per cent more in 2021-22 fiscal than the previous year.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) witnessed a fruitful year in terms of EXIM (export and import) movements in financial year 2022 (FY22) with a total of 556,900 metric tonnes (MT) of overall cargo facilitated in FY22.

CSMIA’s air cargo observed a rise of close to 30 per cent in movement as compared to FY21.

Where international cargo volumes grew by 26 per cent, domestic cargo volumes were up by 40 per cent over FY21.

The total import of 260,600 MT and export of 296,300 MT of cargo resulted in CSMIA’s overall share of contribution to the global cargo movements.

The top three destinations which observed the highest import through CSMIA include China, Germany, and US respectively. While the US, the UAE and Germany remain the top destinations in terms of exports.

Moreover, automobiles, pharmaceutical products and engineering goods saw majority of transportation to the top international destinations, whereas the top domestic destinations primarily witnessed the movement of engineering goods, documents and samples and postal cargo in FY22. Notably, the top airlines catering to the maximum cargo from CSMIA include IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoFirst in the domestic segment. While Emirates, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines were the top three airlines catering to the highest cargo load internationally in this period.

Furthermore, critical life-saving medicines and equipment continue to be the need of the hour. In FY22, some of the key areas of focus were handling of Covid-19 vaccines and lifesaving equipment and medicines.

In addition, 1,000 tonnes of oxygen concentrators, 50 tonnes of oxygen generators and 150 MT of Covid relief medicines were also handled meticulously at CSMIA’s air cargo terminal.

CSMIA continues to build on its cargo capabilities with the adoption of advanced technology solutions including the launch of D-Cube, first of its kind, paperless and contactless import operations model facilitating digital transactions and further reduction in dwell time. While keeping the steady momentum of growth intact, CSMIA is continuously prepared to provide the best-in-class cargo operations in the upcoming period as the financial year comes to a close.

With cargo transportation across the globe operating at full capacity, CSMIA observed a total of 76,736 domestic flights facilitating the total domestic cargo movement in FY22 besides catering to 46,099 flights in FY21.

Meanwhile, 17,570 international flights contributed to imports and exports were observed in FY22 as against 11,833 in FY21 through CSMIA’s air cargo terminal.

Standing today at the juncture of a new post-pandemic global market, CSMIA is constantly making efforts to be an unparalleled partner to businesses by facilitating value-added services, constantly improving efficiencies with introduction of newer technologies, thus minimising turnaround time for each movement.

With an aim to continue with the legacy of being one of the leading airports in cargo movements globally, CSMIA continues to showcase a stellar performance in contributing to the global share of EXIM movements.

The figures recorded in FY21 signify the airports’ continued effort toward establishing CSMIA’s cargo terminal as the global hub for cargo movements.