GUWAHATI: SpiceXpress, the air cargo arm of airline, Spice Jet, became the first operator to connect the Northeast to Southeast Asia with a dedicated weekly freighter service between Guwahati and Hong Kong, on Saturday.
The Union ministry of civil aviation in a tweet said that a “dedicated international freighter service has been introduced from Guwahati to Hong Kong.
“A new milestone was achieved for exports from NER (North East Region). The first freighter flight at the Guwahati Airport received a water cannon salute by the AAU official,” it tweeted.
The ministry further informed that regular freighter services such as this would be followed up on other international routes.
The first flight took off the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport carrying a consignment of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Spice Fresh Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of SpiceJet had recently signed an MoU with Global Entrade, a city-based firm for export of fresh fruits and vegetables to various destinations both within the country and abroad.
“Vegetables such as lemon, bottle gourd, beans, ginger, carrot, green peas and fruits like pomegranate, papaya and pineapple, sourced from various districts of Assam, were sent to Hong Kong on Saturday,” Ravi Gulgulia, managing partner of Global Entrade, told The Shillong Times.
The dedicated freighter service will help the Northeastern states expand their market outreach to the global markets.