SpiceJet, the country’s favourite carrier, signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) and Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport, UAE at the Wings India 2020 in Hyderabad.

This partnership is in line with the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s (MoCA) Krishi Udaan scheme to give a boost to agro product exports and to aid farmers in transporting agricultural products. The MoU aims at promoting export of agro products viz. mango, okra, chillies, curry leaf, herbs, other fruits & vegetables, spices, floriculture, livestock, animal husbandry, dairy, marine and seafood products from India to United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries via Hyderabad.  Operations are expected to start April 2020 onwards.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon'ble Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India, Shri KT Rama Rao, Hon’ble Minister for IT E&C, MA&UD and Industries & Commerce, Government of Telangana, Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, Smt Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL; Pradeep Panicker, Deputy CEO, GHIAL; Engr. Salem Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairman, Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport UAE: Sanjay Khanna, CEO Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport UAE and Sanjiv Gupta, CEO, SpiceXpress.

Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet said, “SpiceJet is delighted to partner with GHIAL and Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport. This partnership will immensely help boost our farmer’s income by providing them ready access to international markets, strengthen the government’s ‘Krishi Udaan Scheme’ and promote export of agro products from India.”

SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL, said, “GMR Hyderabad International Airport is proud to partner with SpiceJet Ltd. and Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport to boost the export of Agro Products from India to United Arab Emirates and its neighbouring countries through Hyderabad. This MoU is a strategic step to foster the visionary outlook of the Govt. of India, which introduced the ‘Krishi Udaan scheme’ to assist our farmers and extend all the logistic support that enables our farming products reach global destinations. Through this endeavor, we are also collaborating with farmer associations towards enabling a perennial supply of farm products through a dedicated freighter corridor. This MoU, will also create a robust advocacy platform to harness our agricultural markets and help create an entire ecosystem for exporting perishable agro products from Hyderabad.”

Under this collaboration, a dedicated freight corridor will be created to leverage the tremendous agro and farming sector potential from centrally located Telangana and the neighbouring regions. This will also give direct marketing access and open-up new opportunities for both export and import that would benefit the farming community in India. Besides, special arrangements are being made for handling livestock both at exporting and destination airports.

The association will target key UAE markets such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Bahrain while entailing extension of support to the Agro Trade by achieving operational efficiencies, on-time uplift/delivery and networking. A specially designed equipment will be used for transportation of goods through the dedicated freighter aircraft of SpiceJet. Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport would provide infrastructural and local support for the goods and facilitate the onward connection to the Middle East Countries.

There will be sustained efforts to promote the Air-Corridor between Telangana and neighbouring states; the United Arab Emirates and neighbouring countries with time-bound service to the agro exporters.