No Duplicate Screening of Transhipment Cargo Cuts Transit Time by Two-Thirds

Ø Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu flags off Transshipment Cargo Operations at Delhi's IGI Airport

Ø After successful Proof of Concept, Minister expands Transshipment reform to 2 new international & 4 new domestic destinations

· Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on 19 August 2026 launched the scaled-up phase of India’s Domestic-to-International (D2I) transshipment cargo reform at DIAL’s Transshipment Excellence Centre (TEC), IGI Airport, Terminal 2.

· Key bottleneck removed: Mandatory re-screening of secured transshipment cargo has been eliminated under prescribed security safeguards, reducing:

o Cargo turnaround time

o Handling costs

o Congestion at cargo terminals.

· Successful Proof of Concept (PoC):

o Started on 20 June 2026 on the Chennai–Delhi–Frankfurt route.

o DIAL’s TEC was used for the operation.

o Air India operated the service end-to-end.

o 280 MT of cargo was transshipped during the PoC.

o Average end-to-end transit time fell from 60 hours to 20 hours.

o Aircraft capacity utilisation increased from 75% to nearly 100%.

· Network expansion: Following the PoC, the framework has been extended to:

o Four additional domestic origin stations: Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

o Two additional international destinations: London and Copenhagen.

· Expected cargo growth:

o Air India’s monthly cargo carriage on the covered lanes is projected to rise from 1,763 MT to 3,183 MT.

o This represents an increase of nearly 80%.

· Regulatory foundation: BCAS had earlier permitted secured transshipment cargo to move through dedicated Transfer Cargo Security Hold Areas (TCSHAs) without re-screening, subject to security safeguards.

o The framework was notified through Addendum-II to AVSEC Circular No. 6/2024 on 21 July 2025.

· Broader objective: The government intends to transform major Indian airports into global cargo transit hubs, complementing the development of passenger hub-and-spoke operations.

· Future expansion: The framework will subsequently be extended beyond Domestic-to-International transshipment to:

o International-to-International (I2I)

o International-to-Domestic (I2D) transshipment.

· Stakeholder coordination: The reform involved DIAL, BCAS, CISF, airlines and Customs, reflecting a coordinated effort to remove operational and security-related bottlenecks.

Significance

The reform substantially improves the speed and cost competitiveness of India’s air-cargo transshipment ecosystem. Cutting transit time from 60 to 20 hours and enabling higher aircraft utilisation strengthens India’s potential to emerge as a global East–West air cargo transshipment hub.

[ABS News Service/20.08.2026]

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu on 19 August, 2026 flagged off the scaled-up phase of India’s transshipment (TP) cargo reform at Delhi International Airport Limited’s (DIAL) Transshipment Excellence Centre (TEC), IGI Airport, Terminal 2.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Ram Mohan Naidu said, “Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are continuously working to strengthen Ease of Doing Business in the aviation sector. Based on industry feedback, we identified long-standing requirement of mandatory re-screening of transshipment cargo, as a key bottleneck. By doing away with it we can significantly reducing turnaround time, handling costs and congestion at cargo terminals. And Proof of Concept exercise on the Chennai–Delhi–Frankfurt route has successfully established that by reducing average end-to-end transit time from 60 hours to just 20 hours”.

Proof of Concept for Domestic-to-International transshipment commenced on 20 June 2026 on the Chennai–Delhi–Frankfurt sector using DIAL’s TEC, with Air India operating the service end-to-end. Since its launch, the PoC transshipped 280 MT of cargo, with aircraft capacity utilization rising from 75% to nearly 100%.

Based on the success of the PoC, the network was today expanded to four additional domestic origin stations; Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad along with two new international destinations; London and Copenhagen. The expanded network is projected to increase Air India’s monthly cargo carriage on these lanes from 1,763 MT to 3,183 MT, an increase of nearly 80%.

Shri Ram Mohan Naidu said, “We are now scaling up this successful model by connecting four more major domestic cargo markets and two new international destinations. While our immediate focus is on Domestic-to-International transshipment, our larger ambition is to position India as a global cargo transshipment hub by leveraging our strategic location between the East and the West. Subsequently, we will expand this framework to International-to-International and International-to-Domestic transshipment as well.”

The Minister added, “The reform is part of the Government’s broader vision of developing major Indian airports into global transit hubs. Following the strengthening of hub-and-spoke operations for passengers, the Government is now taking similar steps to build India’s air cargo hub capabilities”.

Earlier through the revised framework, notified through Addendum-II to AVSEC Circular No. 6/2024 by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on 21 July 2025, it was permitted to move secured transshipment cargo through dedicated Transfer Cargo Security Hold Areas (TCSHAs) without re-screening, subject to prescribed security safeguards.

The Minister congratulated all stakeholders involved in the successful rollout, including DIAL, BCAS, CISF, airlines, Customs for working together to remove a critical bottleneck and improve the competitiveness of India’s air cargo ecosystem.

Additional origin stations and international destinations are planned to be brought under the framework in the coming months, further strengthening India’s position as a globally competitive aviation and cargo hub.

The event was attended by Samir Kumar Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; Vipin Kumar, Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI); Asangba Chuba Ao, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; Ms. Pratibha Ambedkar, Joint DG, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS); and senior officials from MoCA, AAI, BCAS, DIAL, Air India and other stakeholders.