Cargo dwell times at airports to be reduced to three days from 1 October

The secretary, ministry of civil aviation, Ashok Chawla, has announced that the free time given to exporters and importers as 'dwell time' for their cargo at the airports would be reduced to three days from the existing five days. In case of exports this would mean two days for the airlines and one day for the exporter.

This policy would come into effect from 1 October, 2007.

Dwell time of cargo at Indian airports does not compare favourably with the world standards. Hence policies, systems and procedures are being revised and infrastructure is being upgraded to bring India on par with international standards.

This announcement was made during the fourth meeting of the civil aviation core group (CACG), which is headed by the secretary, civil aviation, and has representatives from the various stakeholders of the air cargo industry as well as representatives from Airports Authority of India, Bureau of Civil Aviation Safety, customs and the ministry of commerce. The CACG was formed to suggest ways to remove the bottlenecks for the growth of cargo industry.