Challenge Group recently announced the launch of scheduled services between Liège (LGG) and Mumbai (BOM). Its second converted B767 freighter will be deployed on the route, twice a week, providing a 52-ton cargo uplift per take-off. Rainbow Aviation, Challenge Group’s GSSA partner in India, manages the bookings out of India and serves as the customer contact for the entire Indian freight forwarding community. The newly instated direct connection offers sought-after capacity between Europe and India, with opportunities to onforward to and from the U.S. Pharmaceuticals and electronics will form most of the baseload, though Challenge Group is known for transporting large and complex main deck cargo shipments, thus these will also be frequently carried.
Or Zak, Chief Commercial Officer of Challenge Group, revealed: “Given that India is striving to become the factory of the world, and the production of key verticals has significantly increased during the past few years, our strategic decision to now launch a regular and direct India-Europe service goes some way towards satisfying the intense customer demand on this route. In fact, after the inaugural flight, we are already adding a second weekly frequency from April onwards.” Extensive market preparation was carried out over the past year as the airline arm operated a growing number of consistent charter operations across Indian airports including DEL, HYD, and BLR. This was followed by a targeted roadshow in BOM and DEL in JUN23, where discussions were held with key logistics stakeholders to establish their needs. “Our participation in the recent Air Cargo India event in FEB24, further solidified our presence and network within the sector, paving the way for the successful introduction of our Mumbai freighter service,” Or Zak concluded.
