The day two of the ongoing FIATA RAP Meet 2025 in New Delhi commenced with traditional inauguration, and the dignified and symbolic lamp lighting ceremony, marking the beginning of a gathering that brought together key stakeholders from the international cargo trade. Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor, MoCA and  Surjit Bhujbal, Member,  Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), graced the occasion as the Chief Guests. Turgut Erkeskin, President FIATA, CK Govil, President ACAAI, and Bui Trung Thuong, Trade Counsellor, Embassy of Vietnam also gave their welcome speeches. Keynote speech was given by MR Venkatesh, Eminent Economist and Vote of Thanks was given by Samir J Shah, VP, ACAAI. The gathering showcased the spirit of collaboration and progress that the event aims to foster within the global cargo ecosystem. The dignitaries jointly lit the lamp, signifying the shared vision and commitment to innovation, connectivity and sustainable growth in air cargo.

Air India has made its first-ever airport-to-door international cargo delivery. The destination is a warehouse in Brussels – a city not directly served by Air India, and the shipment is six tonnes of life-saving pharmaceuticals that need to stay cool and effective until reaching their destination. The shipment, courtesy of SUN Pharma, was packed into four lower-deck pallets. These drugs require a steady 15 to 25 degrees Celsius to remain effective. The pallets were carefully loaded onto an Air India flight to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and after landing in Paris, the pallets were transferred to a cool Road Feeder Service (RFS) truck, maintaining that perfect temperature as it rolls through Europe to Brussels. Exactly 36 hours after leaving Delhi, the drugs arrived at the consignee’s warehouse. Transporting pharmaceuticals requires specialised logistics and high levels of precision. Air India recently received the Good Distribution Practices (GDP) certification for its cargo business, a testament to the airline’s compliance with international guidelines for safe and secure distribution of pharmaceuticals. Ramesh Mamidala, Head of Cargo, Air India, said, “With the GDP certification, we have now become India’s only carrier with trained staff to manage active pharmaceuticals. These first shipments of our new airport-to-door service is a step forward in progressively pivoting our cargo offering from ‘airport-to-airport’ to world-class ‘airport-to-door’ services, delivered to the highest standards. It’s not just about getting it there, it’s about getting it there right – with precision.”

While, the FIATA RAP Meet 2025 opens today in New Delhi, its preparations were in full swing, with industry leaders, logistics experts and government representatives indulging in insightful discussions and strategic networking in New Delhi on Wednesday. The FIATA President and Secretary General met Senior Economic Advisor, MoCA, Piyush Srivastava to discuss various issues concerning handling of cargo and also invited him to the ACAAI FIATA RAP 2025 event starting today. The meet will focus on critical topics such as sustainability, digital transformation and supply chain resilience. Stakeholders will also be coordinating to showcase cutting-edge technologies and forge new partnerships, ensuring the event fosters innovation and collaboration across the global air cargo community.

  Astral Aviation has added a Boeing 767-300 freighter as part of plans to renew its fleet, expand its capacity and fly longer distances, said official LinkedIn Post. The post added that the carrier had dry-leased the aircraft, which has extended range capabilities and a payload capacity of 52 tons. “We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our newly dry-leased Boeing 767-300F (MSN 24146 / Reg 5Y SVR), marking another milestone in Astral Aviation’s commitment to expanding our cargo capabilities and enhancing service reliability across our network,” said post. The airline added: “The 767-300F – a proven, efficient, and versatile freighter—will strengthen our ability to serve key markets with increased payload capacity, range, and operational flexibility.”

KSH Integrated Logistics opened its latest multi-client warehouse in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Spanning 30,000 sq. ft., the facility is strategically located in Pithampur, a key industrial cluster, catering to the growing demand for organised warehousing and distribution services in Central India. This launch marks a significant milestone in KSH’s growth strategy, extending its multi-client warehousing capabilities to one of India’s most connected regions.  The facility is designed to support immediate operational deployment for a wide range of industries, including automotive, industrial, OEM supply chains and many more. Advanced Services and Infrastructure The Indore facility offers comprehensive warehousing solutions, such as ground and racked storage, warehouse management, value added services and last-mile delivery services. Integrated with robust Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Transport Management Systems (TMS), the warehouse ensures operational transparency, inventory control, and seamless transport execution. The facility is built to high safety and compliance standards, featuring fire hydrants, fire sprinklers, and beam detectors – an advanced safety setup that is still rare in many regional warehouses.

According to industry analysts Xeneta, “Global air cargo volumes grew over 4 per cent year-on-year in April but with today’s removal of the de minimis threshold for shipments from China into the United States expected to dramatically disrupt e-commerce volumes in the coming weeks and massive uncertainty hanging over the macroeconomic outlook, the question for the air cargo market in 2025 has become ‘how bad will it be?’ Over the past 10 years, US consumers have paid no duty on shipments valued at $800 or less, causing the volume of cross-border packages into the US to soar to some 1.35bn annually. Similar (but lower) exemptions exist in other countries. From today (May 2), however, low-value products sourced from China and Hong Kong into the US will now be subject to 145% new tariffs, with products sourced from postal services paying a different 120% duty on the value of the goods or a $100 flat fee, rising to $200 on June 1.”

Challenge Group has launched its Boeing 777-300ERSF conversion programme, and stated there could be up to 10 of the conversion type in its fleet within the next five years. Challenge has already transferred the first aircraft in its conversion programme to IAI’s facilities for modification, said reports. The company anticipates converting three more aircraft and has options for an additional four. This follows the announcement by Challenge in January that it had signed a deal with lessor AerCap to add two Boeing 777-300ERSF freighters converted by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to its fleet. In total, this means Challenge could eventually operate as many as 10 777-300ERSFs. Each 777-300ERSF has a payload capacity of nearly 100 tons.

Stéphane Graber, Director General, FIATA said, “FIATA promotes sustainability both through advocacy and practical tools. We are engaged in key multilateral discussions to ensure freight forwarders are recognised in climate dialogues, and we are advancing work on emissions tracking, green corridor development, the digitalisation of logistics processes, and the optimisation of multimodal transport. In parallel, we provide our members with training and guidance on implementing greener best practices, from carbon footprint measurement to modal shift strategies. Our goal is to empower Members to contribute meaningfully to global climate goals without compromising their operational viability.”

Uber is planning to launch a B2B logistics service in India. It will be in partnership with an Indian government-backed nonprofit, the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). The ONDC aims to expand digital commerce in India and make it easier for small businesses to go online, said official reports. The partnership with Uber will enable businesses on the ONDC network to access on-demand logistics through Uber, first for food deliveries and then later for eCommerce, grocery, pharmacy and healthcare logistics.  

Shiprocket has launched the country’s first Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server for e-commerce shipping. It allows AI agents to directly handle key operations—from checking shipping rates to tracking orders—using a single line of instruction. This marks a significant milestone in the evolution of agentic e-commerce, giving businesses the ability to automate and execute actions across the e-commerce stack using natural language commands or AI assistants, eliminating the need for traditional dashboards or APIs. With a single, natural-language prompt, businesses can now create, track, or manage shipments, no dashboards, no APIs, just intent. Shiprocket’s newly launched MCP makes this possible by enabling AI assistants, whether internal tools or automation bots, to directly interact with Shiprocket’s platform. From real-time tracking to scheduling a pickup, commerce operations can now be triggered through voice or text commands. Designed for the next generation of eCommerce operations, the MCP Server delivers: Faster execution – Instantly perform logistics actions, reducing manual effort and delays Seamless integration – Connect effortlessly with AI tools or enterprise systems Hands-free operations – No dashboards or human intervention needed Enterprise-grade security – Built on Shiprocket’s trusted, scalable infrastructure