IAG Cargo begins 787 flights to Delhi

The London-to-Delhi service announced in July by IAG Cargo has begun this week, using British Airways-operated 787-9 aircraft. Each flight has up to 22 tonnes of cargo capacity, which IAG said it hopes to fill with high-value cool-chain products from India’s growing pharmaceutical sector.

IAG Cargo can now offer customers a weekly lift of up to 924 tonnes for the Indian market, the carrier said. Each of the 787-9 aircraft come equipped with air-conditioning systems that can maintain precise temperature control, within one degree Celsius accuracy. IAG Cargo’s Constant Climate service now operated in several Indian stations, including Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi, which are the nerve centers of India’s US$27 billion pharma market, based on projected 2016 sales.

Alan Dorling, global head of pharmaceuticals and life sciences at IAG Cargo, said India’s pharma sector “has been one of the major Indian success stories of the past decade,” and that the combination of the 787’s and IAG’s Constant Climate product will make the carrier a major player in the South Asian market. IAG also recently participated in a Good Distribution Practice training session we recently in Hyderabad, to assure the highest operating standards for cool-chain products.

A total of twenty-two 787-9s are scheduled to be part of to IAG Cargo’s fleet by 2018, Dorling added. Following Delhi, the 787-9 will operate on routes to Abu Dhabi and Muscat in November, followed by Kuala Lumpur in December; Austin, Texas, in February 2016; and San Jose, Calif., in May 2016.