Indiapost to deploy aircraft to deliver posts speedily

Indiapost, the country’s venerable postal service, will soon press into service a dedicated aircraft that will ferry mails, parcels and other consignment to their respective destinations in the country faster.

The dedicated freighter aircraft, bearing the logo of Indiapost, is expected to take to the skies in the next three months time and give the private courier agencies a run for their money.

The Department of Posts has tied up with Indian Airlines, which has now been renamed as Indian, to launch the dedicated aircraft. “Indian Airlines will be converting one its Boeing passenger aircraft into a freighter. We don’t have the expertise to run the aircraft. Indian Airlines will be operating the aircraft for us”, said General Manager of Department of Posts, New Delhi, John Samuel, who was in Mysore near here to attend a national workshop.

The Indiapost aircraft will primarily cover destinations in north-eastern parts of the country and also major metropolitan cities in India. “The aircraft will carry mails and parcels between the four metros during night as not many flights are available during night on these routes. During daytime, the aircraft will operate in north east”, John Samuel said.

Though freighter service will start with one aircraft, Indiapost will be expanding its fleet of cargo aircraft in due course of time.

The freighter service is expected give a fillip to Speed Post, Indiapost’s premium mail service that reaches 1,100 destinations across India, besides 97 countries abroad. Plans are afoot to expand the network of Speed Post to 2,000 stations across the country, John Samuel said. “All the district headquarters are presently covered. We plan to expand even to level three towns and cities across the country”, he said.

Speed Post, John Samuel said, was a market leader with annual revenue of Rs 4.5 billion. “Speed Post handles a whopping 11 million articles every day and our nearest competitor accounts for less than half of this in terms of volume”, he added.