Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has been awarded a 15-year license to operate its first cargo handing operation in India at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport). WFS is entering a new partnership with BIAL which, in May 2023, will assume responsibility for the development, operation, management and maintenance of one of the cargo terminals at India’s third-largest cargo gateway for international import and export cargo. WFS will also operate and invest in the expansion of the airport’s dedicated Cold Chain Facility.
The cargo terminal awarded to WFS at BLR Airport has the capacity to handle 210,000 metric tonnes (MT) of cargo a year. From May 2023, it will be used exclusively by WFS to handle international cargo. WFS will use its design, build, finance, process reengineering and development experience to reorganise and refurbish the facility to increase its throughput capacity potential to serve cargo volumes in excess of 250,000 MT annually.
As operators of the dedicated cold chain facility at the airport, WFS and BIAL will begin a two-phase expansion of the dedicated operation, initially doubling its capacity to 80,000 MT per annum before increasing to a throughput capacity in excess of 150,000 MT per annum, post completion of phase 2. These investments are timed to support the next stage of India’s economic growth. India, the sixth-largest global economy and one of the fastest-growing large economies, is the single largest provider of generic drugs globally – handling over 50 percent of total global demand and accounting for 50 percent of the global vaccine manufacturing market– and boasts one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world.
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